In the wake of the deadly shooting spree July 18 that targeted first responders and good Samaritans, community leaders are calling on Tucsonans to prioritize the safety of others and engage in difficult conversations about mental health and domestic violence.
Meanwhile, Danny Leon, the Tucson police officer who put a stop to the rampage in a shootout with the gunman, has been cleared of any wrongdoing for his actions that day, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover announced Tuesday.
Leslie Stephen Scarlett, 35, shot and killed his girlfriend Jennifer Fells, 36, before setting fire to their home and leaving the scene, officials say. He then shot two EMTs at a nearby park, fatally wounding Jacob Dindinger, 20, before returning to the burning house and opening fire on neighbors and firefighters, killing Cory Saunders, 44. Scarlett then got into his SUV and sideswiped Leon's squad car before he started shooting at the officer. Leon fired six rounds at Scarlett, who died in the hospital days after the incident. Leon was not injured.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover and members of her team held a press conference Tuesday afternoon to comment on the July 18 shootings and house fire in Tucson that left four dead, including the gunman.
Conover and guest speakers also discussed community resources aimed at preventing similar violence.
Scarlett, 35, had been struggling with his mental health since January, when he pulled his mother and stepfather out of their burning home across the street from the home he shared with his girlfriend, a police report from March indicates. Both later died, and Scarlett was taken to the Crisis Response Center in March for a mental health evaluation. It's unclear if he received further treatment.
The gun Scarlett used in the attack was involved in a private-party undocumented sale several years ago, Chief Criminal Deputy Dan South said federal agents have learned. It's unknown who bought the gun from the registered owner, or how it got to Scarlett, a convicted felon.
"Therein lies one of the problems: We don't know where guns are in the community," South said.
Gun violence is a public-health epidemic and an issue that needs to be dealt with on a communitywide basis, but it's important people understand that mental illness is not the cause of gun violence, said Sierra Tucson's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jasleen Chhatwal.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover holds up a gun lock while speaking Tuesday at a press conference at Pima County Legal Services Building.
Individual, family and societal risk factors all come into play when it comes to gun violence, and ensuring people are uplifted is of vital importance in its prevention, Chhatwal said.
With more than 15,000 domestic violence-related 911 calls in Pima County each year, domestic violence has also established itself as a public-health issue, and the time has come for the community to pause and consider its shortcomings when it comes to addressing domestic violence, said Ed Mercurio-Sakwa, CEO of Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse.
"What’s really important is the human beings behind these statistics. It's us. Our community, our people that are suffering from this. When we see it as a private matter, we leave it to the victims to fend for themselves," Mercurio-Sakwa said. "We have to collectively as a community shift our mindset to prioritize others' safety over our comfort, and we all have to be able to see this as our issue."
Conover pointed to the community's mental health crisis hotline, saying it was created in the wake of the Jan. 8, 2011, attack, with the idea that people could call the number for a medical, rather than law enforcement, response.
"The frustrating part is that the core mission of our work is we are reactive. When homicide after homicide and gun charge after gun charge come in, we will prosecute," Conover said. "But what we need desperately from the community is the prevention work. What we need now is to partner with the community to start preventing at the root."
