Shots fired at Park Union; weapon found

Sharon Kha, director of news services for the University of Arizona, said the shooting occurred while a party sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers was taking place inside the Park Union, 615 N. Park Ave.

Lt. Brian Seastone, a University of Arizona Police Department spokesman, said the shots were fired at 2:44 a.m. He said police originally knew at least five shots were fired but found seven bullet casings in Lot 5069, just west of the Union on North Tyndall Avenue.

There were no reported injuries, Seastone said.

Seastone said police recovered a semi-automatic pistol at the scene. He said police have not made any arrests and do no have any confirmed suspects.

Kha said an off-duty Pima Community College Department of Public Safety officer working at the party looked out of a window as the shots were fired and caught a glimpse of an 18- to 20-year-old black male waving a gun. She said that when the officer confronted the man and told him to drop the gun, the man did but then fled on foot.

Rather than chasing the suspect, the officer stayed with the evidence, Kha said.

Seastone said UAPD is investigating the possibility that there may have been two people carrying weapons at the scene.

The location of the bullet casings indicate that the person shooting the gun would have been standing close to North Tyndall Avenue, Seastone said. However, based on where the Pima Community College officer saw the man with the recovered gun and where the gun was found, the man was standing close to North Park Avenue, Seastone said.

"We are looking at probably two weapons at this point," he said.

Seastone said the investigation is a collaboration between the Pima Community College DPS, UAPD and the Tucson Police Department. He said police have talked to a few witnesses but have nothing concrete.

TPD officers heard the shots while on their regular patrol and responded to the scene, Kha said.

Kha said some passers-by directed police to a white Ford that they thought might be involved in the situation. She said police followed the Ford and conducted a traffic stop near East Fourth Street and Park Avenue, but no evidence was found to connect the occupants to the gun.

Police are asking anyone with information to call 621-UAPD, or to call 88-CRIME to remain anonymous.