Man dies after exorcism attempt on 3-year-old

A 3-year-old girl is recovering at a Valley hospital after police reportedly found her grandfather choking her during an exorcism.

A struggle ensued, officers subdued the man with a Taser and he later died at a hospital, police said.

Police reportedly found Ronald Marquez, 48, of Phoenix, shirtless and choking his granddaughter early Saturday as her 19-year-old mother, naked and bloody, looked on. The bloodied girl was gasping and screaming as her mother chanted and held a religious picture of some kind, police said.

"It's very bizarre, a very unusual and pretty horrific situation this young child was involved in," said Sgt. Joel Tranter, a Phoenix police spokesman.

Investigators later learned the man was trying to "squeeze the demons out of the young girl", Tranter said.

The girl is expected to recover physically and police are investigating "other possible abuses," Tranter said. He declined to specify the nature of the possible abuses.

With news video.