An Oklahoma police officer died this week — and another is in critical condition — after they were shot multiple times while conducting a traffic stop, according to a new report.
Sgt. Craig Johnson, 45, a 15-year-veteran of the Tulsa Police Department, and Officer Aurash Zarkeshan, a 26-year-old rookie who only began patrol six weeks ago, were shot multiple times during an early Monday traffic stop, the Tulsa World reported.
The suspect, David Ware, 32, refused to get out of the car when the officers told him it would be towed for taxes due to the state, according to a police affidavit filed in district court, obtained by the outlet.
He managed to resist strikes from Johnson’s Taser and pepper spray, before reaching for a gun, as the officers struggled to remove him, according to the court document.
“Ware reaches under his seat and as the officers are pulling him out, he produces a gun and fires three times at each officer,” the affidavit states.
Bullets reportedly struck both officers in the head and torso.
Ware fled in a friend’s getaway SUV, but he was apprehended hours later and charged with two counts of shooting with intent to kill and possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony, the outlet reported.
The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office upgraded one of the shooting charges to first-degree murder Tuesday, according to the report.
The getaway driver, Matthew Nicholas Hall, 29, was also arrested and charged with being an accessory to a felony.
Johnson underwent surgery, but his condition did not improve, so he was placed on life support to give his family time to say their farewells, police said on Facebook.
He died Tuesday afternoon.
Before Johnson’s passing, Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin awarded him a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in the line of duty.
Franklin called Johnson’s death “a tremendous loss to our department.”
“His sacrifice will not go unremembered,” he said, according to the local report.
Zarkeshan, though still in critical condition, has been responsive to hospital staff, Tulsa Police Department spokesman Jeanne Pierce told CNN early Wednesday.
