The Department of Public Safety on Monday identified the man who shot and wounded a trooper near Tonopah last week and confirmed that he was in the country illegally.
Leonard Penuelas-Escobar, 37, “is a known drug user but has no criminal history that we can find,” Col. Frank Milstead, the director of DPS, said during a news conference.
“We showed that he attempted to cross the border on one occasion and was turned back,” Milstead said. “We also have information that leads us to believe that in 2007 he was actually a federal police officer for the Mexican Police.”
[RAW VIDEO: DPS director gives update on trooper shot in Tonopah]
This all began early Thursday morning when Trooper Edward Andersson, while responding to a shots fired call, stopped at the scene of a single-vehicle rollover near Tonopah.
It was while Andersson was laying flares and preparing to help the victims of this crash that he was shot by Penuelas-Escobar.
"What Andersson thinks is a moment here to provide first-aid, the suspect pulls out a 9 mm pistol and fires one time," Milstead said.
While Andersson and Penuelas-Escobar were grappling on the ground, a private citizen came to Andersson's rescue.
[ORIGINAL STORY: Trooper 'ambushed,' shot in Tonopah expected to be OK; suspect shot and killed by passer-by]
That good Samaritan has yet to come forward publicly.
Penuelas-Escobar reportedly was trying to beat Andersson, who had already been wounded and lost the use of his right arm, and slam his head against the pavement.
The good Samaritan’s first shots wounded Penuelas-Escobar, but he did not stay down, Milstead said.
While the good Samaritan was trying to help Andersson, Penuelas-Escobar “gets up a second time and begins to attack them again,” Milstead explained. “As the suspect approaches, the good Samaritan fires another round, this time striking the suspect in the head mortally wounded him and ending the fight.”
That’s when a second passer-by stopped to help. He used Andersson’s radio to contact DPS and get troopers and medical personnel rolling to the scene.
Brian Schober, a 44-year-old systems engineer, told The Associated Press that he saw the trooper's vehicle parked in a traffic lane marked with flares when he first came upon the predawn scene.
He said he didn't think twice about stopping when the motorist who had shot the attacker flagged him down.
"It looks wrong with a civilian flagging down a car when there's an officer there - something's wrong," Schober said, recalling his reaction. "But what can I do? There's no time to think."
The other person killed in the course of Thursday’s events is Vanessa Monique Lopez-Ruiz, 23.
She was in the vehicle that rolled over, the one for which Andersson stopped. At this point, investigators believe Penuelas-Escobar was behind the wheel of the speeding vehicle at the time of the wreck.
"They’re still uncertain why it crashed, if he had overcorrected by traveling off of the road’s surface," Milstead said.
Lopez-Ruiz was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown out of the car as it rolled. She was air-lifted to a trauma center where doctors pronounced her dead.
Milstead said Lopez-Ruiz was a Phoenix native and a number of warrants for shoplifting and various drug-related charges had been issued for her arrest.
He also said both Penuelas-Escobar, who had been living in Glendale, for the past 18 months, and Lopez-Ruiz were known meth users. It's not clear where they were going when they crashed.
In an effort to shed more light on what happened leading up to the shooting of Andersson and everything that unfolded afterward, DPS investigators plan to search that wrecked vehicle in the coming days.
Andersson has been released and continues to recover at home.
"We’re again very thankful for the citizen intervention," Milstead said. "We’re thankful that no matter how far he recovers with the use of his arm that he’s here to be with his family, and our thoughts and prayers go to them."