Officer saved from serious injury after bullet strikes belt

By Shaq Davis The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson police officer helping investigate a domestic violence call was saved from serious injury when a gunman’s bullet struck his belt, officials say.

Officers Nathan Stout and Steven Clark, both with the Tucson Police Department less than two years, were trying to talk to a man linked to a family fight at a bar Friday night when police say he shot at them.

A bullet struck Stout’s belt.

The incident started about 9:45 p.m. when police were called to a bar near East Broadway and South Camino Seco where a man reported that his stepfather had threatened him with a gun during an argument, Sgt. Pete Dugan said in a news release Saturday night.

The stepfather, Roy King, 51, had gone back to his home in the 700 block of South Hermosa Hills Place, by the time officers arrived, Dugan said.

An officer’s duty belt struck by gunfire last night as TPD officers responded to domestic violence o incident at an east side residence. Officers returned fire. Suspect arrested. Thankfully, no injuries. Way, way, way too close a call. This takes “high risk”to a whole other level pic.twitter.com/RRCAmSj1zc

— Chris Magnus (@ChiefCMagnus) May 19, 2018

It was in the driveway of the home, near East Old Spanish Trail and South Harrison Road, where the officers tried to talk to King. Instead King, holding a handgun, shouted at the officers from the home’s backyard and fired at them, police said.

The officers returned fire and King retreated into the house and called 911, Dugan said.

Officers were eventually able to talk King into coming out of the house and he was arrested without incident, police said.

Both a criminal investigation and a standard departmental review of procedures continue, Dugan said.

King was booked in the Pima County jail on suspicion of two counts two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the incident at the bar and two more counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the shooting at the house, police say.

©2018 The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Ariz.)