WATCH: TPD officer accidentally fires weapon during traffic stop

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - Body camera video from an officer-involved shooting in Tucson last year has been released.

The video, which can be watched in the player above, was released by the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team on Monday, Feb. 2.

PRCIT has already reported that an officer with the Tucson Police Department accidentally fired his weapon during a traffic stop. The bullet hit two different vehicles, but no one was injured.

The incident happened near 22nd and Craycroft around 1 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2025.

Officer Joe Alvarez, a 1 1/2-year veteran of the TPD, tried to stop a vehicle near 22nd and Swan for multiple traffic violations.

The vehicle, being driven by 55-year-old Timothy Welch, refused to stop, and Alvarez turned on his lights and followed the vehicle.

Welch then pulled over in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 1200 block of South Craycroft Road, and two people ran from the vehicle.

While getting out of his patrol vehicle, Alvarez “unintentionally discharged his duty weapon.”

The bullet went through the windshield of Alvarez’s vehicle and was later found in the trunk of the Welch sedan.

Welch and a passenger in his vehicle were taken into custody a short time later. Welch was charged with aggravated DUI, unlawful flight from an officer, drug possession, and possession of drug paraphernalia. As of Friday, Dec. 19, Welch was not in the county jail.

It was the second officer-involved shooting in southern Arizona in less 24 hours. Late Friday, Nov. 28, a deputy from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department killed an armed man during an incident near Houghton and Sauharita roads.

It was the 14th officer-involved shooting in southern Arizona that 13 News has covered this year.

• On April 4, a woman armed with a knife was fatally shot by an Arizona DPS trooper on Interstate 10 in Tucson.
• On April 28, a man armed with a gun was fatally shot by Oro Valley police officers at Tohono Chul near Ina and Oracle roads.
• On June 8, a DPS trooper was shot by a suspect near Grand Avenue in Nogales.
• On July 1, a suspect was shot by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer during an incident at the DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales.
• On July 18, an armed Tucson man wanted for child sex crimes died in a deputy-involved shooting in Pinal County.
• On Aug. 1, a Tucson man was killed by the on-site security force after trying to get onto the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
• On Aug. 12, an armed man was shot by law enforcement during an hours-long standoff at an apartment complex in Pima County.
• On Aug. 28, a man died in an officer-involved shooting on Tucson’s south side.
• On Oct. 22, an inmate was shot and killed by a corrections officer at Banner South near Ajo and Country Club.
• On Oct. 25, an armed suspect was injured in an officer-involved shooting in the 8600 block of East Old Spanish Trail in Tucson.
• On Oct. 26, there was a shooting involving CBP on Interstate 19 near Armado.
• On Nov. 23, an armed man died in an officer-involved shooting in the 9000 block of East Cooper Street in Tucson.
• On Nov. 28, an armed man died in a deputy-involved shooting near Houghton and Sahuarita roads in Pima County.

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