24 Year Old Police Officer Tyler Stewart Shot & Killed in Flagstaff, AZ While Investigation a Domestic Violence Call … Murdered by Robert W. Smith

FOLKS, THIS IS THE REASON WHY POLICE OFFICERS AT EVEN WHAT YOU CONSIDER ROUTINE STOPS, ACT LIKE IT IS A LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION …

24 year old Flagstaff police officer Tyler Stewart was shot and killed on Saturday as he responded to a domestic violence call in Flagstaff, Arizona. Officer Stewart while responding to an earlier domestic violence call in the 800 block of West Clay Avenue in Flagstaff when he encountered suspect Robert W. Smith of Prescott, AZ. Officer Stewart was ambushed and shot dead by Robert W. Smith. The cop killer then turned the gun on himself and shot himself dead.

Officer Stewart, Rest in Peace. Our hearts and prayers go out to the family, friends and Flagstaff police department.

Flagstaff police officer Tyler Jacob Stewart, 24, was shot and killed during a confrontation
with a domestic violence suspect Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014, in Flagstaff, Arizona

Officer Tyler Stewart encountered a suspect at a home in the 800 block of West Clay Avenue during an investigation of an earlier domestic-violence call, spokeswoman Sgt. Margaret Bentzen said. Robert W. Smith of Prescott, fired several shots at Stewart, who was outside his patrol car, police said. Smith then shot himself dead, according to police.

Additional officers were dispatched after Stewart’s emergency button went off and dispatchers could no longer get a verbal reply from him, Bentzen said. He was rushed to Flagstaff Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

“This is an enormous tragedy for our department and the family of our officer,” Flagstaff Police Chief Kevin Treadway said in a statement. “We are a very close-knit organization, and know that all members of the Flagstaff Police Department are grieving at this time. 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.”

VIDEO – ABC15 Arizona

Flagstaff officer risked his life for us … routinely.

I could not have said it any better than AZ Central columnist EJ Montini, when it comes to what police officers routinely do in putting themselves into harms way no matter how deadly or not the common person thinks it is.

“Every ‘routine’ call is routine until it’s not,” a police officer told me once. “Which is why you have to assume that every call is not routine. And even then… it might not save you.”

This was decades ago. I was standing in the back parking lot of a convenience store where a Phoenix police officer has been killed after a “routine” confrontation with a shoplifter.

This is what they do for us.

They risk everything each time they pull over a driver for speeding or a broken taillight, not knowing what to expect when they approach the driver’s window. Each time they answer a “routine” call for a shoplifter, an aggressive panhandler, a disorderly drunk, a possible domestic dispute.

Every “routine” call represents their willingness to put their lives on the line.

That’s what they do for us.