DEA agent killed in shooting on a train in Tucson

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By Terry Tang and Michelle A. Monroe | Associated press

A Drug Enforcement Administration special agent was killed Monday when a passenger, who also died, opened fire as officials conducted a routine inspection for illegal contraband on an Amtrak train in Tucson, Arizona, authorities said. A second agent and a Tucson police officer were injured.

“It’s very appalling and we’re all just getting along with how terrible a loss is,” said Chris Magnus, Tucson police chief. “But I also want to think about the really heroic actions of the local officials. They literally ran towards the danger of getting into the car, where an active shooting situation was going on. “

Magnus spoke outside the hospital where the Tucson agent and officer had been taken. The agent was listed in critical condition while the officer was in stable condition. He said the authorities would not publish their names.

The FBI has taken over the investigation into the shootings that displaced passengers. It happened just after 8 a.m. on a train that stopped at the downtown train station. A regional task force of DEA agents and Tucson police officers boarded one of the cars for a typical check for illegal money, guns, and drugs. It’s common at all transportation hubs, Magnus said.

The officers were holding a man on the upper level of the double decker when a second man drew a handgun and started firing. He exchanged several rounds with the police and then barricaded himself in a bathroom on the ground floor, Magnus said.

He was later found dead inside.

The other suspect was arrested. It was not immediately known what charges he was facing or his relationship with the second man.

Magnus praised Tucson police for getting the injured DEA agent off the train and taking him to the hospital in a patrol car. The hospitalized Tucson officer had been on the platform when he heard the gunshots. He was shot while running into the car to help.

There were about a dozen other passengers in the car in which the shooting took place.

“I think it’s just incredible that no other people were injured here, even though we are so sad about the loss of the officer,” said Magnus.

Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams also confirmed that no injuries to the crew or other passengers were reported.

The Sunset Limited, train 2, traveled from Los Angeles to New Orleans and arrived at Tucson station at 7:40 a.m., Abrams said. There were 137 passengers and 11 crew members, he said. All were evacuated to the train station.

Evan Courtney was sitting in a lounge car when suddenly people came running up and yelled: “Shots fired!”

“I grabbed my backpack and ran,” Courtney told the Associated Press via Twitter direct messages.

He said he huddled with other passengers while looking out the window. He saw several tactical police officers with assault rifles behind barricades. After 15 minutes, “the police ran to us and told us to get out of the car and walk in the opposite direction.”

Courtney later tweeted a photo of nearly two dozen officers, including two hugs.

A dramatic video captured by a camera at the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum shows some of the shootings.

Several shots can be heard from a train before a man who appears to be a security guard with a dog gets into the penultimate car through an open door. Two bystanders step back and then run past a baggage car, along with four others who lead each other into the last car and the door slams, the video shows.

A shot can be heard and the security guard with a gun in hand pulls the dog out of the train while still on a leash. He is running behind a building on the platform when a man appears at the door of the car, fires three shots at the fleeing man and the dog and disappears inside again.

The camera is owned by Virtual Railfan, which operates more than 50 cameras that stream train operations live across the country for train fans. Kathy Abbott, operations manager, said both Tucson and Amtrak police have requested footage.

Virtual Railfan’s cameras capture crime, but “maybe not as dramatically,” Abbott said. “That was definitely an adrenaline rush.”

Tucson, home of the University of Arizona, is 180 kilometers south of Phoenix.

“We at DEA are heartbroken with today’s events and ask that you keep the families of the agents and the operations manager in your thoughts and prayers,” said Anne Milgram, agency administrator.

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