Passing driver kills man who shot Arizona officer in ambush
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Emergency personnel gathered at the scene where an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper was shot today near Tonopah, Ariz.
PHOENIX >> An Arizona state trooper stopped to help at a car wreck along a remote highway today when he was shot and wounded in an ambush by a man who was bashing the officer’s head against the pavement until a passing driver shot him to death, authorities said.
The trooper, a 27-year department veteran, suffered a severe wound to his shoulder and upper chest but he is expected to recover at a hospital.
“My trooper would not be alive without his assistance,” Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead said of the good Samaritan who stopped.
The drama unfolded at an early morning rollover wreck on Interstate 10 in the desert west of Phoenix where a woman was ejected and killed. Authorities believe the man who shot the officer was driving the car that crashed.
Officials said they were trying to determine exactly what happened and that the investigation faced major hurdles with the trooper seriously injured and two of the others involved dead. No identities have been released.
A separate driver reported gunfire and a trooper was responding to that call when he spotted the wreck and stopped, Milstead and DPS Capt. Damon Cecil said.
The officer was putting out flares when the suspect opened fire and then physically attacked the wounded trooper, Milstead said. Both Milstead and Cecil said the trooper was ambushed.
The man was on top of the officer and “getting the better of him,” slamming the trooper’s head against the pavement, Milstead said. That’s when the passing driver showed up and asked if the trooper needed help.
He said yes, and the passer-by went back to his vehicle, got his gun and told the suspect to stop the attack, Milstead said. When he didn’t, the driver shot him.
Investigators were trying to determine how the rollover happened and whether the suspect was involved with the initial report of gunshots, officials said. Investigators plan to speak with the person who made that call.
Milstead said he feared the worst when he headed to the hospital to check on the wounded trooper.
“He’s incredibly fortunate to be here with us today,” the director said.
Westbound Interstate 10 was closed most of the morning, and traffic heading for California and western Arizona was detoured to other highways.
48 responses to “Passing driver kills man who shot Arizona officer in ambush”
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What? No comment from Obama on gun control??? Because of Obama–in his 8 years, gun sales have gone though the roof so he should take credit in that sense!!!
Yeah, it would have ended better if the good Samaritan showed up sans the hand gun???
or if the attacker DIDNT have a gun…#MAGA
juris,
Or, if humans hadn’t evolved on this planet at all, then we wouldn’t have any problems whatsoever, correct? Just everlasting peace on earth.
Sorry Fraapes, what?
If you did your research, you would see that all attempts to pass common sense legislation to prevent getting guns into the wrong hands, especially criminals and people with mental health issues have been soundly defeated by the NRA gun lobby at every instance even though a lot of those proposals seem like common sense stuff. Seems like the only thing the NRA will agree to is to give everyone guns and have them all kill each other off like how it was in the old days of the wild wild west where you can get shot just for giving somebody the stink eye.
The only people effected by your “common sense” gun laws are honest citizens. You think passing a law which punishes honest law abiding citizens will stop a criminal from getting or using a gun. Foolish ideas, criminals don’t obey the law, that’s why their criminals. Pass all the feel good laws you want, it won’t make a difference to criminals. In Hawaii, an honest citizen can’t get a concealed carry permit to protect themselves and their family from harm. It’s people like you who talk about the wild west (read your history) which wasn’t what you describe. Criminals don’t worry about getting a license or permit or as it is now going to school just to buy a handgun. An armed society is a polite society.
I totally agree with you. Any strict gun law won’t stop criminals from acquiring firearms. We need concealed carry permits for law-abiding citizens in Hawaii to help our law enforcement, fellow citizens and families when unexpectedly needed. We need to do this now before criminals begin to take over our communities such as they’ve done so in certain areas on the mainland.
If not for an armed Samaritan trooper would be dead! Lucky he happened by? Too bad for the attacker!
“My trooper would not be alive without his assistance,” In Hawaii where the public is disarmed by the darn Democ-rats the cop would be dead.
BINGO!
Yeah, and this happens all the time here in Hawaii.
Or does it? The last officer killed by gunfire on Oahu was in 2003. Prior to that it was 1987. Terrible events, but not quite an epidemic of gun violence.
Wow! Great story. Defiantly a Trump supporter.
Whereas a Hillary supporter would have just watched while recording on the cell phone…
Another win for the good guys….
Statistics offer slim support for the “good guy with a gun” scenario, but every once in awhile things do turn out well, as in this case. Glad the trooper’s gonna make it.
more specificity on such statistics would be appreciated
You most likely will never hear about a case where a concealed weapons holder successfully wins against a gunwielding attacker. The media wont report on those cases. But there are plenty happening all over the country,
As I once had to enlighten a benighted advertiser1, all anyone has to do is visit the NRA’s own website. Or better yet, find a major library or online source for the complete “Armed Citizen” column published in the organization’s monthly American Rifleman magazine. The NRA can’t obviously relay every single instance of civilian self-defense with firearms, but they surely publish enough to quash silly notions that they rarely occur.
Good guy with a gun kills the bad guy with the gun. Works for me.
In Hawaii only the bad guys run around with a gun, the good guys are whacked over the head by our restrictive socialist gun laws.
That must explain why gun deaths in Hawaii are pretty much non existent compared to mainland statistics.
You are using logic and reason on the wrong person.
But thank you for the very rare glimpse of sanity here.
In walks the genius.
His SA ban must have been lifted.
And yet Hawaii has the lowest gun death rate in the nation.
Is there a relationship between socialism and gun ownership? Do you know what socialism is?
Excellent
, what would Allie say…
I was enjoying my beer until I saw your post…C’MON man!
lol^5
January 20th, 2nd Amendment will be protected!
#MAGA
Who cares what nitwit has to say.
lol ^5
Things like this happen every day… armed citizen foils bad guy… it’s just that the main stream media chooses not to report it. Not Politically Correct.
How do you know about it then?
Once in a great while the media filters miss deleting the story, and it gets printed.
Ooh, a conspiracy theory! So the filters missed this story? If the deletion only happens “once in a great while” how is this evidence the ‘good shooter’ events happen every day?
I said once in a great while the media filters miss deleting the story. This means these types of events regularly happen, only most never make it to print, understand now?
I know what you meant, but I am surprised you are trying to defend it. How do you know about the stories if they are not reported? How is a lack of evidence evidence? Are you the person deleting these stories? Why would news organizations bother creating the stories and then deleting them? I can’t believe I am bothering with this ridiculous conversation.
Bird, good name, describes your brain. Stories about self defense abound,. You have to know where to look, most Obama news outlets won’t print the stuff because they don’t like it. This is just one, dare you to read some of it:
https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/armed-citizen.aspx
Alldunn – nice, I see you’re plumbing the depths of elementary school name calling. Good for you. I checked your website, it was a bunch of news stories reported by local news agencies. Is this evidence of a coverup? Should SA report every crime story from around the country? This one was reported because it is unusual.
Now that is great justice–glad that the head basher got taken out–i would like to hear about more of these incidents–the bad guys get take out–really taken out and eliminated–no need for arrest–no need for trial–no need for prison expense–no need to try to rehabilitate–the trash is society needs to dumped
….and, heaven for you would be life in a “Walking Dead” episode.
“The man was on top of the officer and “getting the better of him,” slamming the trooper’s head against the pavement, Milstead said. That’s when the passing driver showed up and asked if the trooper needed help. He said yes, and the passer-by went back to his vehicle, got his gun and told the suspect to stop the attack, Milstead said. When he didn’t, the driver shot him.”
If this happened in Hawaii or most other places in the U.S. the officer would be dead.
The other driver would likely not have stopped if he didn’t own a gun.
As in the photo, looks just like HI cops/to many HFD guys – just standing around.
I feel bad that the ACLU and a bunch of Attorneys will be out unlimited monies from trials, retrials, appeals and all that, The Good Sam deserves a Medal, but he will probably get sued.
how many of you without a gun would stop and try to take down the perp? If you let instincts take over (good morals) I believe many would. I would hope I would do a choke hold and poke out his eyes or knock um in the vitals.
He would have shot you before you could lay a hand on him.
The driver who shot the perp had a great aim. No wounding but shoot to kill. One less perp walking the Earth.
https://www.gunowners.org/sk0802htm.htm
If you did that here you would be jailed for at least two years.