A shotgun-wielding robbery suspect who pointed his firearm at four people in two neighborhoods before aiming at a police aircraft was shot and wounded by a Tucson Police Department officer Friday, the department said.
Isaac Daniel King, 27, is being treated for life-threatening injuries at Banner-University Medical Center and faces more than a dozen felony charges once released, a TPD news release said.
Police responded to multiple reports of a man with a shotgun on Nov. 27, starting with a 5:30 p.m. call to the 5800 block of East 32nd Street where a resident reported that a man asked him for a ride and pointed a gun at him when he refused, TPD said.
An hour or so later, another 911 caller reported a man of the same description burglarizing a dwelling in the 2500 block of North Winstel Boulevard.
The suspect refused police commands to put down the gun and was pointing the shotgun toward a police helicopter overhead when he was shot by an officer, the news release said.
The TPD officer who made the shot, Officer Matthew Merz, is a 21-year veteran of the department.
Police learned after the shooting that King had entered two other homes on the street and pointed the shotgun at the occupants, TPD said.
Detectives later determined the same suspect was wanted for an armed robbery that occurred a few days earlier at a Churchβs Chicken in Tucson.
The shooting remains under investigation by TPD detectives and by the departmentβs internal affairs division, which is standard procedure when an officer shoots someone on the job.
The suspect faces charges including two counts of prohibited possession of a weapon; two counts of 1st degree burglary; five counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; one count of disorderly conduct with a deadly weapon; one count of attempted armed robbery and two counts of endangerment.
