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 (AZDPS) 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/paramedic 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 AZDPS Major Incident Division will lead the probe of the shooting and work with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board in the crash investigation, Flagstaff police said.
Area resident Amanda Brewer told CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV she heard three gunshots followed by two more at about 8:40 p.m. local time, so she called 911. She said officers arrived within minutes.
Brewer said she then heard between 15 and 20 gunshots.
Brewer 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.”
AP
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.
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