A University of Arizona police officer shot and killed 43-year-old Raul Marquez Jr. this morning after Marquez pointed a shotgun at him and refused to drop the weapon.
Tucson police spokesman Sgt. Decio Hopffer said the officer first encountered Marquez at about 4:50 a.m. after he spotted him driving a truck that bore a stolen license plate.
The officer tried to make a traffic stop but the truck continued on, and then stopped at the entrance of University Medical Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave.
The driver got out “brandishing a shotgun,” Hopffer said in a written statement.
He said Marquez got out of the truck and pointed the weapon at University of Arizona police officer Jeff Wadleigh and refused the officer’s orders to drop the weapon.
Wadleigh fired his duty weapon, striking Marquez.
Marquez was pronounced dead at 5:35 a.m.
At the request of UAPD, Tucson police homicide detectives are investigating the incident.
Wadleigh has been a UAPD officer since 2005, Hopffer said.
By Sheryl Kornman, Dylan Smith