Two Tucson police officers serving an arrest warrant for a suspect wanted in an aggravated assault were shot Thursday morning at an apartment complex on the south side.
The 28-year-old man officers were trying to arrest was shot and killed by police during the exchange of gunfire inside an apartment, officials said.
One officer was shot in the shoulder-area and the bullet traveled through his chest, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a department spokesman.
Police Chief Chris Magnus said Thursday morning that the officer was in critical but stable condition at Banner-University Medical Center and being monitored in the intensive care unit.
The second officer was shot in the lower leg and was also treated at Banner. He was released from the hospital later in the day.
The shooting happened shortly before 7 a.m. at the Campbell Terrace Apartments, 4750 S. Campbell Ave., near Irvington Road.
Magnus, speaking to reporters outside the hospital, said the shooting occurred inside an apartment where the officers were serving an arrest warrant for felony aggravated assault.
Police are still looking into the suspect's criminal history, he said.
Magnus declined to release the names of the officers, saying only that they were both in uniform at the time of the shooting and have less than 10 years of experience on the police force.
These are the second and third Tucson police officers shot in the line of duty since late October. On Oct. 24, Officer Robert Miranda was shot by a suspect on the south side. The officer suffered a graze wound to his head. The suspect was shot and wounded in the incident.
"This is way too many and it's very scary." Magnus said. "We live in a climate where there are some dangerous individuals out there willing to shoot police officers over arrest warrants."
Dugan was unable to confirm Thursday if the officers were wearing bulletproof vests, but Tucson police's general orders require that all uniformed officers, including SWAT and special duty, wear a ballistic vest while on duty.
It's unclear if either officer was wearing a body camera.
