On May 5, 2007 at 11:28 a.m. officers from Tucson Operations Division Midtown responded to the Wells Fargo Bank at 5310 E. Grant Rd. for a report of an armed robbery. Officers obtained a description of the suspect and the vehicle he was driving when he left the bank. A short time later officers located the vehicle, which had earlier been reported stolen, abandoned in the 4800 block of E. Pima St. in Tucson. An officer responding to the area observed a subject matching the description of the suspect riding a bicycle eastbound on Pima approaching Columbus. As officers attempted to stop that subject, he pointed a gun at them and fled into the neighborhood on foot. Officers established a perimeter to contain the suspect.
During the containment the suspect ambushed officers from a concealed position wounding three of them with gunfire. Officers maintained containment of the suspect after he ambushed them. Officer Sean Berube, a 7-year veteran, and Lt. Jeffrey Coleman, a 25-year veteran, confronted the suspect in the back yard of a residence in the 4300 block of E. Pima. Officer Berube shot the suspect and he was taken into custody.
Sergeant Gary K. Downard, an 8-year veteran, suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound and Officer Michael Dowling, a 9-year veteran, was struck by gunfire in his ballistic vest. Both officers were transported to University Medical Center for treatment. Officer Jeffrey Baker, a 6-year veteran, suffered a superficial wound from a ricochet or bullet fragment and was treated at the scene.
The suspect was transported to Tucson’s University Medical Center for treatment of the gunshot wound and remains there under police guard. Homicide detectives responded to the scene to conduct the investigation and are attempting to identify the suspect.