New video and details show the hectic aftermath from the fatal shooting in October of a jail inmate at a Tucson hospital by a county corrections officer.
Inmate Nathan Peru, 31, was being treated at Banner University Medical Center South Oct. 21, when he reached for a correction officer's gun and was shot and killed in the ensuing struggle, authorities have said
Peru was being guarded at the hospital by two Pima County corrections officers, which is standard procedure.
The newly released video from the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team, the multi-agency group that investigates local shooting involving law enforcement, shows one of the corrections officers walking casually out of Peru’s room to get food.
A body cam image shows a corrections officer with her weapon drawn immediately after the shooting of Nathan Peru, a jail inmate who tried to take an officer's gun while being treated Oct. 21 at Banner University South.
That left Officer Caitlin Acosta alone with Peru, who had slipped out of his wrist restraint, according to the new video.
As soon as Peru and Acosta were alone, Peru allegedly attacked Acosta in an attempt to disarm her.
Acosta told police that Peru jumped on top of her and she fired her weapon, killing Peru, the video says.
Frantic calls to 911 follow the gunfire and nurses and staff are seen racing down the hall to Peru’s room, where he can be seen wounded on the floor next to the hospital bed, the surveillance footage shows.
Acosta, a five-year department vet, sustained minor injuries in the attack.
The Oro Valley Police Department is leading the criminal investigation. The sheriff's department is conducting a separate administrative investigation into the shooting.
In March 2024, Peru was arrested on suspicion of the death of his daughter, whom he initially told investigators had drowned when she fell in the tub while taking a bath, court records show.
An autopsy concluded her death was a homicide. But it also found blunt force injuries and evidence of sexual assault, court records said.
On the day of the girl’s death, Peru told officers he was outside his home near North Flowing Wells and West Wetmore roads and heard a loud “thump.” When he went inside to investigate the noise, he saw his daughter “face down in the bathtub,” court records say.
