Good Samaritan shoots, kills gunman who ambushed trooper

TONOPAH, Ariz. — A man traveling to California came to the rescue of a wounded Arizona state trooper struggling with a gunman who had shot him Thursday on an isolated stretch of Interstate 10, authorities said.

The man, who was with his wife, stopped his car when he came upon a rollover accident before sunrise and saw the struggle, according to Col. Frank Milstead, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The trooper told the man he needed help, and the man returned to his car, got his gun and fired at the assailant.

The man who shot the trooper was killed, as was a woman who had been ejected from the vehicle, Milstead said. None of the names of those involved has been released.

The trooper was in stable condition after being shot in the right shoulder and chest, Milstead said. The 27-year veteran officer was scheduled to undergo surgery.

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He is going to be "OK after some recovery," Milstead tweeted earlier Thursday.

The trooper was taken to Abrazo West Campus hospital in Goodyear, Ariz. He was driving at about 4 a.m. MT to Milepost 81 on I-10, about 40 miles west of downtown Phoenix, after a caller said a car in the freeway median had fired a shot at his vehicle.

As the trooper headed west, he came across a rollover accident at Milepost 89. The car involved was registered in Arizona.

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"We believe the suspect was in the rolled-over car, but it hasn't been confirmed," said Capt. Damon Cecil of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The trooper was putting down flares in the dark when a gunman ambushed him and shot him. The wound affected the trooper's gun hand, but the officer continued to fight the man, Cecil said.

The civilian saw a man on top of the trooper, pounding the officer's head in the pavement, and asked the trooper if he needed help, Milstead said. The civilian shot the man and then used the trooper's radio to call for help.

Medical helicopters flew the trooper, the gunman and the woman ejected in the rollover to the Goodyear hospital.

Arizona Department of Transportation officials closed 13 miles of westbound I-10 — the main route between Phoenix and Los Angeles — starting before 5 a.m. as law enforcement investigated. Nearly 100 semitrucks had to be backed out of the area as the investigation expanded, officials said.

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It reopened about 12 hours later, according to a tweet from the department.

"It sounds tragic," said Lawrence Weakley, who had been asleep in the cab as truck driver Kenny Dunn handled their big rig when traffic came to a sudden standstill early Thursday. "Officers flew by to respond. Everyone responded immediately." Their truck was one of the last to be backed out of the area.

Contributing: Logan Newman, The Arizona Republic. Follow Yihyun Jeong and Alessandra Luckey on Twitter: @yihyun_jeong and @alessa_luckey