Tucson mass shooting has residents concerned over ongoing rampant violence, pols debating gun rights

A downtown Tucson, Arizona, mass shooting left nine victims wounded, the alleged shooter with life-threatening injuries, and locals concerned about the Democrat-run city's late-night gun violence having spun out of control.The shooting erupted around 2 a.m.near Empire Pizza at East Congress Street and Sixth Avenue, a busy nightlife area filled with people leaving bars and restaurants.

Police believe the violence began with a confrontation between two groups whose members knew each other, with bystanders caught in the crossfire.Authorities had not said how many weapons were fired or publicly detailed what started the dispute."Definitely it's not as safe as it used to be because I know there's all kinds of fighting happening," Tucson resident Roxanne Brown told Fox 10 Phoenix.MASS SHOOTING ROCKS CROWDED DOWNTOWN TUCSON DISTRICT, LEAVING 10 WOUNDEDA forensics photographer from the Tucson Police Department takes photos of the scene where nine people were injured in a shooting in downtown Tucson early Sunday morning, July 19, 2026.

(Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star)Anais Camacho, who has seen shootings at the same downtown corner before, said she routinely warns relatives to leave before the bars close."I had like a gut feeling that we should leave and pretty much as soon as we got up, there were some guys fighting and I shouldn’t have butted my butt in, but I did," Camacho told local KGUN 9."I was like, stop fighting and then instantly he like lifted his shirt up, and I didn’t even see the gun, but I knew what that meant.""So I yelled at everybody to like run away like but I guess I said it in Spanish — I didn’t realize," Camacho added.

"I said he has a gun, he has a gun and nobody like moved and I had to like grab my cousin and we dipped and as soon as we bent the corner, shots fired."Camacho she knows first-hand of the "rowdy" late-night violence there."I always tell my family and friends this: Once we’re out at 1:30 a.m., let’s go home because after 1:30...