TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — In the aftermath of that mass shooting that happened in Tucson over the weekend we are learning more about the history of the man charged in that case and we are talking to people about how concerned they are about visiting downtown.
The shooting began with what Tucson Police called a confrontation between two groups that know each other.
Police say one man, 21 year old David Leroy French started shooting. Nine people were wounded. French became number ten when officers shot him.
Now he’s facing 19 charges in all.
We checked court records and found he pleaded guilty in a gun case from two years ago when an argument led to him firing shots at a man.
In that earlier case French pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The judge gave him four years probation. That conviction made French a felon and made it illegal for him to even possess a weapon.
At this latest shooting Eddie Ramirez was working security about a block away at the new Johnny Gibson’s Food Court.
He heard the commotion right after the shooting and was grateful for the quick response by TPD. But that burst of violence is still troubling.
“Preventing it is a hard thing. It just depends on the people. Like they shouldn't have firearms. I don't think it's safe for them to. It just depends on them. You know, it's not something we can stop. I wish that it was more in our control to stop stuff like this, but I don't see it stopping anytime soon. It's just an everyday thing in the world, sadly.”
Mindy Driscoll and Eric Berg are just wrapping up a visit from Montana. To them the mass shooting doesn’t really reflect on Tucson.
Mindy says, “I have to admit that I was not shocked-not because of anything unique to this community, but just it seems to be the situation that we're in in this country right now, where there's a new mass shooting almost every week. It feels like.”
Eric says, “I would say it is a little shocking, just because we were here for a few days and it was just a really nice town, and it just doesn't seem like something like that should happen there. But again, like she said, it does seem to happen too often all over.”
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
