Monday morning’s fatal shooting of a DEA special agent and an Amtrak passenger is being investigated by the FBI, as law enforcement officers mourn the death of a colleague who was part of a team engaged in what Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus called a “routine interdiction check” of the train while it was briefly stopped.
According to Magnus, several members of the Counter Narcotics Alliance taskforce boarded the eastbound Sunset Limited shortly after it arrived in Tucson around 7:40 a.m. with a crew of 11 and 137 passengers. The taskforce was looking for illegal drugs, undeclared money, and firearms.
Two passengers involved in the shooting were reportedly on the top floor of one of the double-decker passenger cars when they came into contact with members of the taskforce. One passenger was taken into custody but the other, identified as a male, opened fire on officers with a handgun inside the car and also fired several rounds outside toward an officer and his K9 partner.
In addition to the DEA special agent who suffered fatal wounds on the train, another DEA special agent was transferred to Banner UMC in critical condition and a TPD officer was hospitalized in stable condition. Magnus said the male passenger who shot at officers was later found deceased in a bathroom on the lower level of another passenger car.
None of the parties have been identified as of press time, nor was there an update on the condition of the injured officers. There were no reports of injuries to Amtrak employees or any of the other passengers.
Amtrak’s website shows the train left Los Angeles on Sunday night, with four scheduled stops in Arizona -Yuma, Maricopa, Tucson, and Benson- before continuing east all the way to New Orleans. Multiple FBI agents responded to the scene and could be seen collecting evidence into the evening.
At a press conference Monday afternoon, Magnus acknowledged the efforts of myriad officers who responded to the scene after the shooting.
“It’s very horrific and we’re all just coming to terms with just how terrible a loss this is,” Magnus said. “But I also want to reflect on the really heroic actions of the officers at the scene. They literally ran towards the danger, into the car, where there was an active shooting situation going on.”
Hours after the shooting, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram released a statement about the incident. It mirrored a statement read by Special Agent In Charge Cheri Oz of the DEA – Phoenix Field Office during the press conference with Magnus.
“Tragically, this morning, two DEA special agents and a DEA task force officer from the Tucson Police Department were shot during a law enforcement operation in Tucson, Arizona,” Milgram said. “One DEA special agent died as a result of injuries sustained during the shooting. A second DEA special agent is in critical condition. The DEA task force officer is in stable condition. We at the DEA are heartbroken by today’s events and ask that you keep the families of the agents and task force officer in your thoughts and prayers.”
A multi-unit law enforcement motorcade escorted the body of the deceased DEA special agent from the train to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.
Gov. Doug Ducey shared his condolences for the DEA special agent’s family and expressed his concerns for the injured members of the taskforce.
“Our prayers are with them, their families and the law enforcement community,” the governor said.