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A man who’d been kicked out of a Tucson bar Sunday returned later in the day with a gun only to be shot by an armed patron, police said.
The man suffered life-threatening injuries and remained in critical condition on Monday, police told News 4 Tucson.
The incident took place at Famous Sam’s at 2320 North Silverbell Rd before the victim was shot near Grant and Silverbell.
“What we can confirm is the suspect was at the bar earlier in the day and was asked to leave,” Tucson Police Department told News 4 in a statement. “The suspect returned armed and began brandishing a firearm at people in the bar (We are unable to confirm the type of firearm as we still have to talk to additional witnesses/victims).
“An armed patron in the bar discharged their firearm and struck the suspect. He was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. He is still in critical condition. If released, he is facing several counts of aggravated assault charges.
Famous Sam’s owner Mark Rhude told the station the man had hurled racial abuse before being asked to leave, then returned with a gun and fired a shot into the ceiling.
“Everybody heard that a little panic came on,” said the owner, citing staff accounts as he was not present at the time of the incident. “So he came around and was moving that gun on people.”
That’s when another patron stepped in, Mr Rhude told News 4.
“He [the customer] then said drop your gun to the bad guy three times and bad guy wouldn’t and he leveled it right at the guy and our customer here, he shot him, apparently three times,” he said.
TPD told News 4 the investigation was ongoing and did not return requests for comment from The Independent. An employee who answered the phone Monday at the Famous Sam’s location told The Independent the manager and owner were unavailable to speak and it was unclear when they might be. TPD did not immediately return requests for comment.
