Report: Man fired 400 rounds at Tucson police, shot himself

Details of a police standoff earlier this month in which a man fired more than 400 rounds at officers from a rifle and handgun before turning the gun on himself have been released in a new report.

The incident began about 9:45 a.m. March 10 when Tucson police officers went to talk to Jesus Mendivil, 38, about a felony domestic violence incident, the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team said Friday in a news release.

When officers arrived, they say Mendivil entered a home in the 3300 block of North Richey Boulevard, near East Fort Lowell Road and North Dodge Boulevard, and refused to exit. Several unidentified people were able to leave the house safely, but Mendivil remained inside, the release said.

Negotiations continued for several hours to try to get Mendivil to exit the property on his own. With no response from inside the house, officers decided to use a police armored vehicle to breach the front door.

That’s when Mendivil began firing his weapon toward SWAT team members, the release said.

“Several SWAT officers were pinned down by gunfire and had to utilize directed fire in order to move to a safe position,” the report said.

Directed fire, the report said, is a tactic used when “there is a lethal threat to the community or officers but direct engagement with the suspect is not possible due to physical barriers.”

Tucson Police Department policy allows SWAT officers to discharge their firearms toward a “known safe and unoccupied area,” but only during “extreme situations,” the release said.

Several SWAT officers fired their weapons. None was wounded.

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Officers from multiple law enforcement jurisdictions were called in as the standoff continued and officers faced gunfire from inside the home.

Eventually, the Arizona Department of Public Safety used an armored vehicle to breach the house.

Inside, officers and SWAT members found Mendivil with an AR-15 rifle and a handgun held to his head, the release said.

Mendivil eventually shot himself and died later at a hospital.

The officers who discharged their weapons in the directed fire have been identified as: Officer Adam Roebke, a 6-year-veteran; Officer Joseph Jensen, a 12-year- veteran; Officer Tanner Wolverton, a 5-year-veteran; Officer Eduardo Valenzuela, an 8-year-veteran; Officer Bradley Kush, a 12-year-veteran; and Sgt. Jason Bredehoft, a 20-year-veteran.

The multi-agency Pima Regional Critical Incident Team investigates police-involved shootings here.

For this incident, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and Oro Valley Police Department have been assigned primary responsibility for the criminal investigation. The Tucson Police Department is conducting a separate internal investigation to determine if any department policies were violated.

The findings will be sent to the Pima County Attorney’s Office, which is standard procedure.