Tucson leaders defend safety efforts after mass shooting

Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto confirmed the suspect, 21-year-old David Leroy French, is in absentia custody after being shot by police after he allegedly opened fire in front of Empire Pizza on East Congress at Sixth Avenue, injuring nine people early Sunday morning. He is receiving medical treatment in a hospital and will be transferred to the Pima County jail, Prieto said.

The nine shooting victims are also continuing to recover in a hospital, and some have been released, she said.

Officials have not made victim names public or given details of who has been released from the hospital.

Prieto acknowledged the community is “shaken,” but applauded the response of Tucson Police officers who ran towards gunfire and administered first aid to victims.

“What I can tell you is that your police department is ready and prepared. ... The suspect with the handgun was addressed immediately, and officers then rendered aid immediately to the nine, the nine shooting victims, and also the suspect who was shot by my officer,” Prieto said. The name of the officer has not been released. 

Sunday’s shooting sparked frustration from business owners and community members on social media, including from the owners of Empire Pizza, who commented on Mayor Regina Romero’s post that city officials should be doing more to control “how clean, safe, and welcoming downtown is.”

Prieto said the city has seen a reduction in overall gun violence in the last year.

“Our strategies are having an impact on violent crime. Our shootings, again, down 19% year to date. Our homicides down 29% year to date. That's a great number,” Prieto said.

According to the Tucson Police Department's Firearm-Related Incident Map, there have been 47 non-fatal shootings with injuries this year compared to 59 in 2025.

Romero said Tucson uses funding from the Rio Nuevo tax district and the business organization Downtown Tucson Partnership to pay for extra off-duty police officers in the downtown area.

“The business community is part of the response,” Romero said.

Prieto said TPD has implemented a heavier police presence on weekends in the downtown area since 2021.

There were 20 officers, five sergeants and two community service officers on duty in the downtown district at the time of Sunday's shooting, TPD said in a statement.

City officials and Tucson police are continuing to work to make Tucson safe, and the community should continue supporting local businesses, Romero said.

“We're not going to let incidents like this break us down and have us hiding in our homes, not enjoying the incredible entertainment, food and businesses and activities that we have in our own city,” she said.

Other existing safety efforts include the Safe City Initiative, a plan to reduce crime and improve public safety that includes targeted policing, violence prevention efforts and coordination with community services that started in 2025.

The new Office of Violence Prevention and Intervention was created as part of the initiative, Romero said. One of its main responsibilities is violence interruption and vitalization action, or VIVA, a targeted police enforcement in high-crime areas of the city. The current VIVA target areas do not include downtown, according to the public data dashboard.

Prieto also confirmed the suspect had an existing criminal record.

French was a prohibited possessor serving a four-year probation for a 2024 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, she said.

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said in a statement that French faced up to nine years in prison for the 2024 incident, in which he pointed a rifle at a car wash employee and fired in his direction, the Star previously reported. He was also intoxicated at the time, records show.

“The court's probation department assessed the individual and found him to meet the criteria for a sentence of intensive probation, and the judge ordered standard probation. It appears he was still under that supervision in our community without any documented infractions in the court file when Sunday morning's incident occurred,” Conover's statement reads.

Romero said she was left with questions as to how someone with a criminal record was able to acquire a firearm. She emphasized the need for federal and state support for violence prevention efforts, but said the current federal administration makes enforcement difficult.

“As much as mayors have power to do incredible work … we need investments from the state and federal government, and unfortunately, we have seen violence prevention and intervention funding being completely decimated and cut by the federal government,” she said.