An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter responding to a shootout between police and a suspect has crashed in an accident that killed the pilot and a trooper on board. The helicopter was assisting law enforcement officers Wednesday night as they exchanged gunfire with a suspect in a dome.
An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter crashed in an accident that killed the pilot and a trooper on board, after they responded to a gunbattle between police and a suspect who fired on officers from multiple rooftops over almost two hours, authorities said Thursday.
The confrontation began when law enforcement officers responded to a domestic violence call around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Flagstaff Police Chief Sean Connolly said during a news conference. As the officers spoke with the victim in the front yard, the suspect opened fire on them from the back of the house with a semiautomatic long rifle.
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An almost two-hour shootout ensued, with the unidentified suspect “hopping from roof to roof” in the residential neighborhood while shooting at officers, Connolly said.
The man was brought into custody at about 10:20 p.m., around the time the helicopter accident occurred. He did not provide information on how the helicopter crashed but said it had been providing officers on the ground with an aerial view of what was happening.
The suspect suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds and was being treated at Flagstaff Medical Center, officials said.
No one else was injured. The names of the pilot and trooper, who was also a paramedic, were not released.
“Our city and our state have experienced a significant loss. We are part of this community,” Connolly said. He referred to the suspect as a career criminal but gave no further details.
