Three shot after office complex row in Arizona
A gunman shot three people after a dispute at a US office complex and then fled the scene, police in Arizona’s largest city said today.
The country’s latest mass shooting came as Congress took up the issue of gun control for the first time since an attack in Newtown, Connecticut, in December left 20 young children dead and changed the national conversation on guns.
Police said one victim in today’s shooting in Phoenix, Arizona, was in an extremely critical condition, and the other two had less severe injuries. All of the injuries could be life-threatening, Fire Captain Scott McDonald said.
Police Sergeant Tommy Thompson said a dispute with someone at the building escalated to the point where the man pulled out a gun and started shooting. He did not know what kind of gun was used.
Officer James Holmes said police believed there was only one gunman.
“We have no motive. It is right now a really fluid scene,” he said.
Officer Holmes said police were given conflicting information about the suspect leaving the scene. The building was evacuated, and police were looking for any additional victims.
Vannessa Brogan, who works in the three-storey complex, said she heard a loud bang that she initially thought was from somebody working in or near the building.
She said others at the business thought they heard multiple loud noises. She said people locked themselves in offices until authorities evacuated the building.
Becky Neher, who also works in the building, said she heard two gunshots.
“Someone yelled ’We have a shooter’,” she said. She saw two victims lying on the ground outside the rear of the building. She added that medical people who have offices in the complex came out to help.
Phoenix Police Sergeant Steve Martos later said officers are talking to someone at a home connected to the office complex shooting but it is not the suspect.
Sgt Martos refused to say who lives at the property, which was surrounded by a swat team.
The home is more than seven miles (11km) north of the shooting scene.
