Arizona Good Samaritan shoots, kills man attacking state trooper

On Thursday morning, a passerby driving down I-10 near Phoenix helped save a trooper who was being viciously attacked by a man.

ABC News reports that a 27-year veteran of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Trooper Edward Andersson, pulled his patrol cruiser over to check on a vehicle that wrecked and rolled over off of Interstate 10, near Phoenix and just East of California, when he was ambushed and attacked by a man believed to be driver of the car. As a Good Samaritan passed the desert area and saw the officer being attacked, he stepped in to help.

Hero passer-by shoots dead gunman after the suspect shot and injured an Arizona cop https://t.co/Qm4m1ulIcS

— ARnews 1936 (@ARnews1936) January 13, 2017

According to DPS Director Frank Milstead, the trooper was attempting to set up flares around the area near rolled over vehicle when he was attacked. The suspect shot Andersson in the shoulder and chest before physically attacking him.

“There was an injured female off the edge of the roadway and a rolled over vehicle. As the trooper exited his vehicle and began to lay out flares, it appears at this point that he was ambushed by the suspect.”

The suspect overtook Andersson and was “getting the better of him,” slamming the trooper’s head into the pavement when another driver spotted the fight, pulled his vehicle over, and asked the officer if he needed assistance. When Andersson confirmed he needed help, the driver pulled out his gun, and demanded that the suspect get off of the trooper. Milstead indicated that the Good Samaritan asked the suspect several times to stop, but the suspect ignored the requests and continued to attack the trooper. That’s when the Good Samaritan shot the suspect, fatally wounding him.

Milstead said they’re now trying to find the hero who intervened and saved Andersson’s life, who remains in the hospital in stable condition. Investigators are currently reaching out to speak to him.