On January 12 Breitbart News reported that an armed citizen intervened by shooting and killing a suspect who was attacking an Arizona state trooper on the side of I-10.
On January 17 the Arizona Department of Public Safety reported that the deceased suspect was in the country “illegally.”
The incident occurred in the early morning hours, when an armed citizen stopped after seeing the trooper under attack on the side of the road. The citizen asked the trooper if he needed help. When the trooper responded in the affirmative the armed citizen demanded that the suspect stop attacking, but the demands were not heeded. So the citizen opened fire. At that point the suspect collapsed and the attack subsided for a time.
According to AZFamily, DPS indicates the suspect was 37-year-old Leonard Penuelas-Escobar, “a known drug user” who was in the country “illegally.”
DPS indicates that Penuelas-Escobar stopped after initially being shot, then allegedly got up and tried to attack again. DPS Colonel Frank Milstead said, “As the suspect [approached for the second time], the good Samaritan fires another round, this time striking the suspect in the head mortally wounded him and ending the fight.”
The trooper has been identified as Edward Anderson.
Penuelas-Escobar allegeldy shot Anderson in the shoulder before starting to beat him.
Another citizen–44-year-old Brian Schober–stopped while the armed citizen was rendering aid to the trooper. Schober said the armed citizen flagged him down and he said he “didn’t think twice” about stopping to help.
He added, “It looks wrong with a civilian flagging down a car when there’s an officer there—something’s wrong. But what can I do? There’s no time to think.”
12 News reports that Schober used the trooper’s radio to report an officer down and request that a helicopter be dispatched to get the trooper to a hospital.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.