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MAMTA POPAT/ARIZONA DAILY STAR VIA AP / OCT. 4
A Tucson Police Department SWAT truck is parked near the last two cars of an Amtrak train in downtown Tucson, Ariz.
EVAN COURTNEY VIA AP
This photo provided by Evan Courtney shows two officers embracing near the scene of a shooting aboard an Amtrak train in Tucson, Ariz.
TUCSON, Ariz. >> Officials today identified the armed passenger who died in a gunfight after allegedly fatally shooting a federal agent inside an Amtrak train in Arizona as Darrion Taylor.
The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office in Tucson said in a news release that Taylor, 26, was shot in the torso and limbs.
The wounds were not self-inflicted, according to medical examiner Dr. Gregory Hess. A more detailed autopsy will be completed sometime next month.
A regional task force of Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local police officers were inspecting baggage for contraband at the train station in downtown Tucson on Monday morning.
The train they were screening was the Sunset Limited, Train 2. It was making a scheduled stop in Tucson after leaving Los Angeles for New Orleans, according to Amtrak officials.
Acting on tips from Amtrak, authorities say they got permission to search baggage belonging to Taylor and another passenger in the same row, Devonte Okeith Mathis. When an officer found two bulk packages of marijuana during an inspection on the platform, Michael Garbo, a DEA group supervisor, and another agent reentered a train car to talk to Taylor.
Authorities say that’s when Taylor opened fire, killing Garbo and wounding a second agent. Another Tucson police officer was also caught in the gunfire and wounded.
The agent and officer both remain hospitalized. Their names have not been released.
Tucson police say several responding officers exchanged gunfire with Taylor, who barricaded himself in a bathroom. He was later found dead inside.
Mathis, meanwhile, was arrested on suspicion of knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute less than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana.
Victoria Brambl, a federal public defender listed as Mathis’ attorney, did not immediately return a voicemail message seeking comment Thursday.
A public funeral for Garbo, who joined the DEA in 2005, is planned for Friday in Tucson.
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