Discovery of Marijuana Preceded Deadly Tucson Shooting, U.S. Says

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First came a tip. Then, not quite as discreetly, an Amtrak passenger stowed three bags in a different row and returned to his seat when drug control agents boarded a crowded train during a stop in Tucson, Arizona Monday morning.

A search of these bags on the platform revealed more than five pounds of “bulk marijuana”, 50 packs of marijuana edibles (3.5 gram servings of “Gooberz”) and other cannabis products, according to a federal criminal complaint.

At that point, a “routine” search by a drug control task force became fatal: one federal agent was killed, another was critically injured, and a Tucson police officer was hospitalized in stable condition after a second suspect got back on the train had returned, fire opened on them.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Arizona, revealed new details about the flow of events leading up to the shooting, including the name of one of the men, Devonte Okeith Mathis, who was charged with intent on using marijuana to distribute .

The shooter was shot in exchange with the members of the task force, it said in the ad, which did not identify him. He sat across from Mr. Mathis across the aisle and both men were traveling from California to Texas, authorities said.

A federal defender for Mr. Mathis, 22, of Mesquite, Texas declined to comment Thursday. Mr. Mathis is due to appear in federal court in Tucson on October 21.

In Texas, in 2018, Mr. Mathis was charged with intent to manufacture or supply a controlled substance, according to property records, which showed his case was pending. Public records also listed a December 2020 ruling in a case of grievous bodily harm with a lethal weapon. The outcome of these proceedings was not immediately clear.

While it is legal for people 21 and older to own up to one ounce of recreational marijuana in Arizona under a law passed last November, possession of marijuana in any quantity is a federal crime. The trade remains illegal both federally and in Arizona, where tension has risen over marijuana possession laws.

Valena Beety, a law professor and assistant director of the Academy for Justice at Arizona State University, said in an interview Wednesday that the separation between state and federal law had created confusion.

“You are in a state where recreational marijuana has been legalized and yet there is still the DEA impact, you know, federal officials who can arrest you for breaking a federal law,” said Professor Beety. “It’s been a tension for years. These are the tragedies that arise from this confusion. “

However, Professor Beety noted that the law was not confused about the amount of marijuana seized and the human trafficking charges.

On Tuesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration identified the agent killed as Michael G. Garbo, a group leader who had worked for the agency for more than 16 years fighting criminal drug traffickers from the American Southwest to Kabul, Afghanistan. The officers did not reveal the names of the other injured officers, nor did they provide details of their condition.

In the criminal complaint, federal agents said they were investigating a lead they received from Amtrak when they met the two men on the train. The type of tip was not explained in detail in the complaint.

When an agent asked Mr Mathis whether the bags belonged to him, he denied this and aroused further suspicion, the ad said. According to investigators, the agent found two bulk packs of marijuana in a blue backpack, which said the shooter had returned to the train when police dogs sniffed the bags. When agents began to approach the shooter on the upper deck of the double-decker train, he opened fire.

The gunfire prompted the evacuation of Sunset Limited Train 2, which at the time of the shooting had carried 137 passengers and 11 crew members. Everyone on board the train that traveled from Los Angeles to New Orleans was safely evacuated, an Amtrak spokesman said.

Vimal Patel contributed to the coverage.

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