Police identify EMT critically injured during mass shooting on Tucson’s south side

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Tucson police have identified the EMT who was ambushed and critically injured in a mass shooting on Sunday, July 18.

Tucson police Chief Chris Magnus called the shooting that left 20-year-old Jacob Dindinger in very critical condition “senseless.”

Dindinger and his partner were in an ambulance at the Quincie Douglas Center at Silverlake Park staging as a backup for an unrelated medical call, when they were shot.

Police identified Leslie Stephen Scarlett, 35, as the suspect in the shootings.

“When you get this type of information your heart sinks,” said Damon Schilling, an AMR spokesperson.

Schilling says it’s heartbreaking to see first responders, dedicated to helping others, become the victims.

“Something we as an organization have seen too many times throughout the years and it’s a tragedy,” he said.

A friend of Dindinger and former co-worker says he loves to play baseball and has dreams of becoming a firefighter.

“He was 20 years old and you could already tell, he was, he is an amazing person,” Schilling said.

Dindinger went to Pima Community College from 2018 to 2020 and received his EMT certificate last summer, according to a PCC spokesperson.

“We need the community of Tucson to gather around the employees at AMR and let them know they support them,” Schilling said. “This is a very tragic time.”

Support Dindinger and his family through a GoFundMe page, here.

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