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TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – City and county leaders held a press conference Thursday to address gun violence in Tucson following a mass shooting Sunday outside Empire Pizza in downtown Tucson that left nine people shot.
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The event was held at the request of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who attended the roundtable. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said the discussion was also an opportunity to inform the community about the city’s current violence intervention programs.
“So that we don’t forget — we don’t forget that there are things that we can do as individuals, as a City of Tucson, but also that we need our partners in the state and federal government,” Romero said.
Giffords called for stricter gun laws in Arizona to prevent future incidents.
“We are at a crossroads. We can let the shooting continue or we can act,” Giffords said.
Not all community members agreed with the press conference’s emphasis on gun reform. In an Instagram post shared Monday night, Empire Pizza said it was “disheartened to see the focus of this tragedy shift to gun control,” adding that gun control has “zero applicability to what has been happening downtown.” The restaurant attributed Sunday’s shooting to what it called the “astounding” number of violent criminals not being prosecuted.
That post came following new information shared about the shooting suspect, David Leroy French. French pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon less than two years ago, according to court documents. He was sentenced to four years of probation for that offense.
French’s prior conviction came up during the roundtable, when a community member asked the Pima County Attorney’s Office: “When will we start seeing harsher punishment for criminals committing gun violence?”
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said she is standing behind the judge’s decision to sentence French to standard probation.
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“I’m not second-guessing the judge here. At that sentencing hearing, he had a 19-year-old kid with absolutely zero criminal history from juvenile or adult,” Conover said. “The employers supported him at his sentencing, his whole family, he gives a tearful apology.”
Conover also noted the volume of cases handled by her office. “We can’t take the 18,000 non-fatal shots fired from two years ago — cannot possibly go to trial,” she said.
Romero said the city is implementing new programs with violence intervention partners, including Boys to Men Tucson and Goodwill of Southern Arizona, aimed at stopping violence — particularly among youth.
“To be able to share with the community the work that we’re doing and the advancements that we’ve done and that we have programs that are proven to work,” Romero said.
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