TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Tucson City Council addressed the grief and anger surrounding this past weekend's shooting during its Tuesday night meeting.
Council members offered condolences to those affected by Sunday's shooting, which left nine people injured.
Ward 6 Council Member Miranda Schubert said:
"Our hearts are with the victims, their loved ones and every person who witnessed this horrific act. We are wishing everyone a full recovery including access to the mental health care and the support that will be essential in the days and months ahead."
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The council and city manager Tim Thomure also thanked police officers, firefighters and all first responders for their bravery and for saving lives.
"For my team members that were involved, thank you for all of your service. For those that were on sight already, we appreciate you. You stopped things from getting worse than they were and you immediately rendered aid that saved lives," Thomure said. "And for all of the units that responded from across the city, both police, fire, and 911 — thank you."
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Mayor Regina Romero thanked community members who helped during the incident and called on residents to continue supporting local businesses in downtown Tucson.
"Our downtown is safe. Our downtown is filled with activity and vibrancy. It is the heart of our city," Mayor Romero said. "We all need to rally around our local businesses, especially those downtown. We need to keep working together to keep ourselves and each other safe."
Her remarks drew a sharp response from a community member during the public comment portion of the meeting.
"First of all directly to the mayor. How dare you tell the people of the city that downtown is safe less than 72 hours after nine people were shot. Near months after a person was hatcheted to death at a bus stop. It's fiction," the speaker said.
Mayor Romero said she's grateful for the Downtown Tucson Partnership and TPD who have been working for months to plan a training for downtown businesses.
"That'll be occurring tomorrow to work on violence prevention, de-escalation, preparedness, and working together to make our sure downtown remains a place where people can gather, work, play, and enjoy our beautiful city," Mayor Romero said.
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She went on to say there are actions for everyone to take including policymakers.
"We need to continue to push our state and federal governments to do their parts in providing funding for the work that the City of Tucson Mayor and Council and our police department are doing," Mayor Romero added.
"We also need our families and our parents, grandparents, parental figures to talk to their kids about not solving their problems with violence and guns. We need our schools, libraries, houses of worship to lean and to teach de-escalation skills. Most importantly, working together, we can do so much more."
Another hot topic in the meeting, mayor and council voted to stand in solidarity with Tohono O’odham Nation – backing the tribe’s federal lawsuit to prevent border wall construction on its land.
The Nation alleges the Trump administration is encroaching on tribal land, reducing tribal boundaries without congressional approval, trespassing and damaging sacred mountains and culturally important areas.
"We should obviously support the Tohono O'odham Nation. They are sovereign people. They've always been our allies. They need to control their lands which exist not just on our side of the border, their family members that live on the southside of the border, and they've always had easy access back and forth. To put a wall there is such an insult," Ward 3 Council Member Kevin Dahl said.
Mayor Romero added that a border wall is not only expensive, it would ruin the desert.
"The Sonoran Desert is one of the most biological diverse deserts in the world and border barrier would further erode the greatness of our environmental diversity," Mayor Romero said.
Ward 5 Council Member Selina Barajas shared a few words of support as well.
"Last year I had the honor of visiting the Nation, alongside chairman José and seen firsthand the history, beauty and significance of this region, including the lands along the border," Barajas said. "That experience was a powerful reminder that deep connection between the land, the people and the generations who have cared for it, and the seven generations to come."
Tohono O'odham Nation citizen Brandi Espuma said she was grateful for the city's support but believes there's more work to do.
"I feel a lot of relief and a lot of pride from the Tucson community, but also I think there's a job to be done – to speak louder on behalf of our O'odham citizens and be able to represent even more," Espuma said.
Espuma pointed to council member Dahl as an example of the kind of active presence she hopes to see more of from city leaders.
"He was like at Organ Pipe (national monument) and was able to film for the actions that were happening toward Organ Pipe and the sacred lands that happened. I think that's a strong presence to have for O'odham," Espuma said.
Espuma said having that partnership speaks volumes and having leaders like Dahl will make a difference.
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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