Suspect on loose after US shooting
2013-01-31 17:03
Phoenix — Police were hunting on Thursday for an "armed and dangerous" 70-year-old man suspected in an office complex shooting that left one person dead and two wounded in Arizona.
Arthur Douglas Harmon allegedly opened fire at the end of a mediation session on Wednesday morning, police said. Police believe Harmon acted alone and fled in a car. Police said he had at least one gun and was considered "armed and dangerous".
One man — identified by police as 48-year-old Steve Singer — died hours after the shooting. They said a 43-year-old man was listed in critical condition and a 32-year-old woman suffered non-life threatening injuries.
"We believe the two men were the targets. It was not a random shooting," said Sergeant Tommy Thompson, a Phoenix police spokesperson.
Harmon also allegedly shot at someone who tried to follow him after the shooting in an attempt to get his license plate number, according to authorities.
Lawyer among wounded
The shooting took place on the same day that Congress held hearings on legislation to address gun violence, with former Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona testifying for stricter gun controls. A gunman shot Giffords in the head during a shooting rampage in Arizona in 2011.
Police didn't immediately release the names of the wounded. But a law firm, Osborn Maledon, said one of its lawyers, Mark Hummels, was among the wounded. The firm said Hummels "was representing a client in a mediation" when he was shot.
According to court documents, Harmon was scheduled to go to a law office in the same building where the shooting took place for a settlement conference in a lawsuit he filed last April against Fusion Contact Centers LLC, where Singer was the CEO Hummels was representing Fusion in the lawsuit.
As police searched for the shooter, officers served a search warrant to enter a nearby house, which county property records show was sold by Harmon to his son last year.
For a time, officers used a megaphone to ask Harmon to surrender, believing he might be inside.
- AP
