Several injured after suspect opened fire on paramedics, firefighters responding to separate incidents

At least two people have died and several others are injured after a driver of an SUV allegedly shot several people on Sunday in Tucson, Arizona, including several first responders.

The shootings took place at three locations where emergency personnel were responding to separate incidents.

Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said the incident began when the Tucson Fire Department was dispatched to a fire at 3:45 p.m. local time in the 2100 block of Irene Vista. At “about” the same time, paramedics were responding to an unrelated medical emergency at a nearby park. It was then, according to Magnus, that a suspect got out of his silver SUV, approached the ambulance and opened fire, hitting the driver in the head and the passenger in the arm and Chest.

The 20-year-old EMT driver is in “extremely critical condition” while the passenger seat EMT, a 21-year-old female, is listed in stable condition.

Then, as the fire trucks arrived on call to the residence, neighbors were also on the scene trying to help.

That’s when the suspect “arrives at the scene and starts shooting firefighters and neighbors,” Magnus said at a press briefing Sunday night.

At this point, the firefighters called the police to say they were being shot. A fire captain was shot in the arm at the residence and is in good condition, while a neighbor has died after being shot in the head, police said. A second neighbor was grazed by a bullet and is in good condition.

Then, as an intervening police officer arrives at the scene, he sees the suspect’s vehicle in the area. The SUV then rams the officer’s car, deactivating it, Magnus said. The officer then got out of the car and exchanged gunshots with the suspected suspect, hitting him. The suspected 35-year-old suspect is in critical condition at a local hospital.

Magnus said the incident was more complex because a corpse was found inside the burning residence. At this time, the identity of this victim is not known and police have said they do not know if this person’s death was directly related to the suspect.

Adding to suspicion surrounding the incidents, authorities said the fate of “two or three” children “associated” with the burning residence is unknown. Anyone with information about these children, a description of which was not immediately available, was asked to call 911.

This is a “highly tragic and truly horrific incident with many unknowns,” Magnus said on Sunday evening. The investigation, he said, will be “long and complex”.

“I ask all of our Tucson community to join me in thinking and praying for the victims of this afternoon’s fire and shooting at Silverlake Park, including first responders from AMR and the Department of Defense. “Tucson fire. It was a horrific and senseless act of violence,” Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said in a statement Monday.