Deadly house party shooting prompts TPD to patrol more around parties

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — On Wednesday, neighbors from the Miramonte neighborhood and people living in surrounding neighborhoods got together to discuss the shooting on 5th and Miramonte that resulted in 3 people hurt and one University of Arizona student dead.

Captain John Carlson with the Tucson Police Department spoke with concerned neighbors about the aftermath of the shooting and what TPD is doing in regards to safety measures.

“We’re not trying to ruin everybody’s good time. We’re trying to make sure it’s safe,” Carlson said.

Carlson said TPD started a party patrol with multiple officers going out with the sergeant to respond to unruly parties. He said they are looking for the potential for violence, mostly in the U of A area but they also go city-wide.

“So if we can prevent the violence from occurring by breaking up the party before something actually happens, it’s certainly beneficial for everybody,” Carlson said.

TPD is continuing efforts with their red tag unit, a system in which TPD puts a red tag on a place with loud gatherings of five or more people.

“If we respond back to that location, I think it’s within 6 months, everybody that lives in that residence and the homeowner are subject to pretty hefty fines,” Carlson said.

If a U of A student gets a red tag, the dean of students office gets notified and the student could get a warning or other consequences.

In July, Carlson said they’re reorganizing their community response team, which responds to special problems like drugs, protests, and parties. He said they are increasing their days from 4 nights a week to seven.

“So we’re putting together 4 more community response teams throughout the city, so that’s another 24 officers and 4 sergeants,” he said.

Carlson said TPD is still looking into the shooting and they don’t think the people involved in the shooting are students, but do have some investigative leads.