A grieving Arizona mum expressed thanks to the man who fatally shot her son on Sunday.

Victoria Mendez was attacked by her son while he was allegedly under the influence of crystal meth, and a neighbour intervened to save her life.

Hakeem Shawky, 29, had been battling a drug addiction for over 15 years, and had not seen his mother in three months. When Mendez spotted her son near the corner of 50th Dr. and Windrose in Glendale around 10:30pm, she was initially happy to see him.

"I rolled my passenger window down and I said, 'Hey Hakeem, what's up? How are you doing?'" she told KPHO/KTVK. "And he popped his head into my window and he says, 'I just want to give you a kiss, mama.'"

When she leaned in to hug Shawky, he pulled out a box cutter.

"And then he proceeded to get into the car and started stabbing me and slashing at my throat, telling me that he was going to kill me," Mendez cried. "He grabbed within the wound itself that he had created with his bare hands and he started pulling at my esophagus."

Mendez, just down the street from her home, began to scream for help. A neighbour heard her cries and approached the car with a gun.

"He (neighbour) said, 'Stop or I'm going to shoot,'" she said. "He (Shawky) wouldn't stop. He (the neighbour) shot him once. It didn't even phase him, he was so high on drugs. And the second shot I heard, he (Shawky) went down and I was no longer being cut."

Shawky died from his injuries, while Mendez was released from the hospital on Monday evening. While still mourning the loss of her son, she thanked the neighbour who saved her life.

"There was nothing else you could have done," she wanted the neighbour to know. "And as sad as I am to lose my boy, you did the right thing. And I thank you for my life."

She also shared memories of Shawky before his addiction took over his life years ago.

"My son is very gentle and he's very loving, and he's a good boy," she said. "But that thing wasn't him. I don't think parents understand what they're dealing with. It's a very, very dangerous business. Crystal meth is stealing our kids and turning them into murderers."

Police have recommended that the neighbour not face criminal charges.