A man was sentenced to 35 years in prison for attempting to kill a Tucson police officer during a traffic stop in March 2019, the Pima County Attorney's Office says.
Antajuan Carson Jr., 24, was convicted in November of the attempted first-degree murder of Officer Alvaro Silva, aggravated assault, and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor, the attorney's office said.
On March 17, Officer Silva conducted a traffic stop on Carson's van in the 5100 block of East First Street, near East Speedway Boulevard.
Once stopped, Carson immediately fired a handgun several times at Silva, a 3 1/2-year veteran of the police department during the incident.
Silva returned gunfire, striking Carson multiple times, police said.
Carson was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. Silva was unharmed in the shooting.
According to court documents, Carson was prohibited from possessing firearms due to prior felony convictions.
He was convicted in 2013 of two counts of negligent homicide in the shooting deaths of 18-year-old Stanford Bell and 20-year-old Javohn Milne outside a Tucson house party, according to Daily Star archives.
An appellate court would later overturn the conviction in 2017 after determining Carson wasn't allowed to argue defenses based on both self-defense and mistaken identity.
The Arizona Supreme Court overturned the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial in February 2018, where Carson plead guilty to negligent homicide, according to Star archives.
He was incarcerated throughout the proceedings and given nearly five years credit for time served at his September 2018 sentencing.
Carson was released on Sept. 27, 2018 and on parole until May 27, 2019.
