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Arizona cop shot and killed, suspect takes own life, police say

Officer Tyler Jacob Stewart, 24, was pronounced dead after he was ambushed while investigating a domestic violence incident.

By Fred Lambert

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A police officer was ambushed, shot and killed in northern Arizona by a suspect who then took his own life, according to authorities.

Officer Tyler Jacob Stewart, 24, was pronounced dead at Flagstaff Medical Center Saturday due to wounds sustained in a shootout with a suspect in the Plaza Vieja neighborhood of the northern Arizona city.

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Police say Stewart was seeking out a person of interest in a domestic violence incident from earlier that day. As he approached a home on West Clay Avenue around 1:30 p.m., Robert W. Smith, 28, emerged from the house and opened fire multiple times.

Stewart returned fire before being shot in the face. When police arrived they discovered both men dead. Investigators say Smith died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Stewart had been with the Flagstaff Police Department for less than a year. Flagstaff Police Chief Kevin Treadway said the incident was an "enormous tragedy."

"We are a very close knit organization, and know that all members of the Flagstaff Police Department are grieving at this time," Treadway said, according to ABC 15. "With that being said, all of the men and women of the Flagstaff Police Department extend our prayers and condolences to the family of our Officer Tyler Stewart."

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Police-related shooting incidents have dominated headlines in recent months, most notably after unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot to death by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer in August. After a grand jury refused to indict the accused officer, riots and protests erupted across the country.

Two New York police officers were gunned down as they sat in their patrol car earlier this month after a grand jury refused to indict a NYPD officer who choked an unarmed man to death during an arrest.

In September over 100 people attended a forum in Flagstaff's Murdoch Center in the wake of the Brown shooting to discuss issues of subtle racism in America and incidents in which citizens felt targeted by police due to their skin color.

At the time Chief Treadway said he wanted to begin creation of a citizen liaison committee and announced that Flagstaff police officers would be equipped with body cameras.

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