Fire captain ID'd as gunman in Tucson restaurant shooting
TUCSON, Ariz. -- An Arizona fire captain has been identified as the gunman in a shooting at a busy restaurant in an upscale Tucson shopping mall that killed two men and injured a woman, fire and police officials confirmed to CBS affiliate KOLD.
The Tucson Fire Department and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that Fire Captain Frederick Bair, 60, was the gunman at the Firebirds restaurant at La Encantada Mall on Friday night, KOLD reports. Bair and the other man died at the scene, KOLD reports.
The Arizona Daily Star said the shooting was a murder-suicide. Authorities have said Bair knew the other man and woman, but their identities have not been released.
“After speaking with witnesses, deputies determined the incident was isolated to the restaurant and no other bystanders were injured as a result of the shooting,” the PCSD said in a news release. “At this point in the investigation it appears that one handgun was used. This was not a random incident and involved no other parts of the mall or surrounding establishments.”
Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Cody Gress said the woman was shot in the leg and is expected to recover.
He said investigators were trying to sort out what happened and provided little other information about the shooting inside the Firebirds Restaurant at La Encantada, a mall in north Tucson.
Gress said detectives were interviewing “quite a few” people who were in the restaurant at the time.
Several witnesses told KOLD they heard 10 shots before seeing a man turn the gun on himself. Others said they saw a man held down by others inside the restaurant.
Toni Escuibel, who was at the restaurant with family and friends to celebrate her daughter’s 13th birthday, said the scene was chaotic.
“My husband turned around and said, ‘Everybody under the table,’” Escuibel said. “(We) heard some screaming some scuffling up at the bar. There were probably about 10 shots – and it was pretty harrowing. Pretty harrowing, not fun for young girls to have to go through that kind of experience.”
Witnesses said after the shots, Firebirds employees started ushering people out the back door and to safety.
The Tucson Fire Department released a brief statement to KOLD, saying they are “heartbroken over the news.”
“The shooting left one person injured and two dead, one of which was Captain Fred Bair,” the statement read. “The department extends it thoughts and prayers to the families of this tragic event.”