A deputy U.S. marshal was shot and killed Thursday evening outside a Tucson house on the north side, according to Gov. Doug Ducey.
He was the first deputy U.S. marshal to be killed in the line of duty in Tucson in 66 years. Tucson police said a man was taken into custody after a standoff with officers.
The shooting happened around 5:30 p.m., in the 2600 block of North 15th Avenue, near West Jacinto Street. The house where the shooter fired from is just across the street from Jacinto Park, and northwest of North Oracle Road and West Grant Road.
Moments after the shooting, police and federal officers surrounded the single-story house. Several residences around the house and the park were evacuated by officers.
After about an hour standoff, Tucson police reported they had a man from inside the house in custody.
Ducey tweeted shortly after 8 p.m. that he had been informed the deputy U.S. marshal was killed in the line of duty.
βIβve just learned that tonight we lost a US Deputy Marshal from the District of Arizona. He was killed in the line of duty in Tucson. My deepest condolences and prayers go out to his family and all of Arizona law enforcement,β the governor tweeted.
No additional details were released as of press time.
The last deputy U.S. marshal to die in the line of duty in Tucson was Edmund L. Schweppe, who was fatally shot while escorting two prisoners to a dentist office in the downtown area on Sept. 15, 1952, according to the Marshals Service website.
Those two prisoners were apprehended by police after they escaped. They were both convicted of Schweppeβs murder and sentenced to life in prison, according to the Marshals Service.
