Page Police Department pursue and arrest shooter, charge Attempted First Degree Murder

On July 29, at 12:47 p.m., the Page Police Depart­ment received a report of an active shooter at a business located in the 2000 block of Industrial Drive in Page, Arizona. The investigation revealed that the suspect arrived at the business in a vehicle, exited the vehicle and began shooting at em­ployees with a handgun. The shooter fired multiple times at a moving vehicle on the property, almost strik­ing the driver. The vehicle crashed, which likely hin­dered the shooter’s efforts.

After firing multiple rounds, the suspect fled the scene in a vehicle before police arrived. The police department immediately placed all PUSD schools, government buildings and nearby businesses on lock-down. After gathering in­formation from witnesses, investigators were able to determine the identity of the suspect and later located his vehicle parked in a motel parking lot near Elk Road and Lake Powell Boulevard at 1:43 p.m.

Investigators confirmed that the suspect had checked into the motel and identified the room he was staying in. Officers set up containment on the motel and evacuated the build­ing. Shortly after the motel was evacuated, a negotia­tor made contact with the suspect by telephone. The suspect made threatening comments and fired a gun­shot from inside the motel room shortly after learning police had him contained. It was later determined the suspect had shot and killed his dog, which was in the motel room with him.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Arizona DPS and National Park Service all sent officers to assist, as did the Kane County and Coconino Coun­ty SWAT teams. After Page PD and Park Service negotiators communicated with the suspect, he was taken into custody without further violence at 3:25 p.m.

Chief Tim Lange said, “We are grateful that no­body was seriously hurt during this incident, which highlights the value of the agreements we have in place with our local law enforcement partners that allows agencies to work to­gether in times of crisis. Our staff trains with officers from these agencies for situations such as this and this outcome is why we train and prepare. I am more than proud of the job everyone did. I also want to thank those citizens who came for­ward with pertinent information that as­sisted us in identifying and arresting the suspect.

Our dispatchers once again showed why we have one of the best Communications Centers in our region and why they have received accreditation and state recognition. It should be noted that Dispatch Supervi­sor Jackie Lyons and Lead Dispatcher Tay­lor McNally handled the call in its entirety. During the incident, they handled 126 calls, many of which were unnecessary, while simultaneously han­dling all of the ra­dio traffic and phone calls from all of the responding agencies.

Many of these calls were nothing more than distractions from citizens requesting information about the incident. We ask ev­eryone to refrain from calling dispatch during an emergency if you do not have pertinent information about the incident or some other emergency.”

The suspect was booked for two counts of attempted First De­gree Murder, however, this investigation is on-going, and more charges will likely be filed in the coming days. All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.