“It’s extremely horrific, and we’re all just trying to come to terms with how terrible this loss is,” Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus stated. “But I also want you to remember the truly heroic actions of those officers on the scene. They ran to the danger and into the car where an active shooting situation was going on.
Magnus spoke in the vicinity of the hospital where the Tucson agent and Tucson officer were taken. While the agent was listed as in critical condition, the officer was listed as stable. He stated that authorities would not release their names.
Passenger fled the scene after the shooting at 8 AM occurred on a train that was stopped at the downtown station. To check for illegal money, weapons, and drugs, a Tucson police officer and a regional task force of DEA agents boarded the car. Magnus stated that it is a regular occurrence at transit hubs.
Officers were about to detain a man on the top level of the double-decker vehicle when another man pulled out his handgun and started firing. Magnus stated that he exchanged many rounds with police before securing himself in the bathroom on the lower floor.
Later, he was found inside.
The other suspect was also arrested. The identity of the other suspect was not immediately available.
Magnus praised Tucson police officers who got the injured DEA agent off of the train and rushed him to the hospital in a patrol car. He was on the platform when the shots were heard. He ran to the car and was shot.
The shooting took place in a car with about 12 other passengers.
Magnus stated, “It’s just amazing that there weren’t any other people hurt. Even though we are so saddened at the loss of the officer.”
Jason Abrams, spokesperson for Amtrak, also confirmed that there were no injuries reported to passengers or crew members.
Abrams stated that the Sunset Limited, Train 2, was travelling from Los Angeles to New Orleans and arrived at Tucson station at 7:40 AM. He said that there were 137 passengers and eleven crew members. All were evacuated to the station.
Evan Courtney was sitting in a lounge car and people started running towards him shouting: “Shots fired!”
Courtney said that she grabbed her backpack and ran to The Associated Press via direct messaging on Twitter.
He claimed he was huddled up with passengers and looked out of the window. He saw several tactical officers with assault rifles positioned behind barricades and he was surrounded by them. After fifteen minutes, police came to our aid and ordered us to get out the car and go in the opposite direction.
Courtney tweeted later a photo showing nearly twenty officers, including two embracing.
Some of the scenes were captured on dramatic video by the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum camera.
Multiple shots can be heard inside a train, before a man with a dog and who appears to be a security guard, boards the car in the middle through an open door. The video shows two bystanders running away from the train and joining four others to help them into the last car.
The security guard, who is holding a gun, runs behind the train, the dog on the leash, and backs off. As a man approaches the passenger car doors, he fires three shots at the dog and man fleeing.
Virtual Railfan owns the camera and has more than 50 livestreaming cameras that follow train operations across the country. Operations manager Kathy Abbott said that both Tucson police officers and Amtrak police requested any footage be made public.
Abbott stated that although Virtual Railfan’s cameras capture crime, they are “maybe not as dramatic.” “This was certainly an adrenaline rush.”
Tucson is located approximately 110 miles (180 km) south of Phoenix.
