In the early hours of May 1, 2011, Rolando Alberto Tirado, a 37-year-old male, was working an off-duty security detail in a parking lot on South 35th Avenue in Phoenix. A decorated police officer with the Buckeye Police Department for seven years, Tirado was a respected figure, known for his passion as a School Resource Officer and his role as a negotiator on the SWAT Team. A U.S.
Marine Corps veteran, his career in law enforcement spanned a total of eleven years.
That morning, at approximately 1:15 a.m., Officer Tirado and his partner, also from the Buckeye Police Department, stopped a truck with dark tinted windows that had been driving erratically in the parking lot. As Tirado was speaking with the driver, a male passenger exited the vehicle, walked around the back, and shot Officer Tirado from behind. He succumbed to his wounds at the scene.
A gunfight then erupted between the gunman and Officer Tirado's partner. During the exchange, the gunman was shot and killed. Tirado's partner sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. The driver of the SUV was also critically wounded during the shootout. A third person in the vehicle fled the scene but was apprehended by the Phoenix Police Department two days later.
