Pilot, trooper killed in police helicopter crash at active shooting scene in Arizona

CBS

A police helicopter crashed at an active shooting scene in Arizona Wednesday night, killing both people on board, authorities said.

Flagstaff police said the Arizona Department of Public Safety Ranger helicopter was providing tactical air support for its officers and other law enforcement agencies when it went down, killing the pilot and the trooper who were in it.

At the time, law enforcement officers “were involved in a shooting with the active shooting suspect” who suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds and was taken into custody, Flagstaff police said, adding that no one else was injured.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, the FAA said Thursday. The NTSB will lead the investigation and provide any further updates, the agency said.

Flagstaff police said that the AZDPS Major Incident Division will lead a probe into the shooting, which involved one suspect, three police officers and a Department of Public Safety employee, Flagstaff police chief Sean Connolly said in a Thursday morning news briefing.

Connolly said police received a domestic violence call at 8:31 p.m. When officers arrived at the scene, they made contact with an uninjured victim in the home’s front yard. Then, a “career criminal armed with a long rifle” opened fire on the officers and victim, Connolly said.

The officers rescued the victim and engaged in numerous “gun battles” with the suspect between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., Connolly said. The suspect was moving from roof to roof to fire on the officers, Connolly said.

“This neighborhood was under siege last night,” Connolly said.

Col. Jeffery Glover, the director of the Department of Public Safety, said the helicopter crashed at 10:17 p.m. The cause of the crash remains unclear.

Area resident Amanda Brewer told CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV she heard dozens of gunshots throughout the night. She said she heard the helicopter above her house just after 10 p.m. and there were more gunshots after that.

“You could hear the blades going,” she said. “Then there was a very large crash; it shook the house. It was startling.”

Brewer said there was quite a large fire in the forest behind her house, and she heard more gunshots after the crash.

Flagstaff police issued a shelter-in-place for one neighborhood at about 10:15 p.m. in a social media post. At 10:20 p.m., the suspect was taken into custody and taken to Flagstaff Medical Center, Connolly said.

The pilot and trooper have not been identified. Connolly said the officers involved in the shooting were on administrative leave, per protocol.