Guests of the Gospel Rescue Mission are still trying to figure out what happened Saturday night when two men, guests of the mission, were shot outside the shelter.
The one-story building, surrounded by plants and flowers and with a “Jesus Saves” sign on its property, was the backdrop to the Saturday shooting, which took place at 8:51 p.m. A man got out of a dark SUV and shot the two men, one in the stomach and the other in the right wrist, then fled the scene, the South Tucson Police said Saturday night. The suspect is still at large.
The man shot in the stomach was outside the shelter, and the man shot in the wrist was on the patio, said Detective Bryce Gardner, of the South Tucson Police Department. Neither man’s name has been released.
Jon Wayne Lewis, who has lived at the shelter for six months, said the victim shot in the stomach was in his early 20s and had been referred to the shelter.
Roy Tullgren, executive director and pastor of the mission, said that before the shooting, there had been an altercation between the victim shot in the stomach and the man in the SUV. The victim shot in the stomach underwent surgery Saturday night, Tullgren said.
But the police said it seemed that the incident was random and involved no altercation. The man in the SUV asked the men on the shelter’s patio for a cigarette and then opened fire, Gardner said.
The man shot in the wrist was described by Lewis as an older man who had been at the shelter for a couple of days. Lewis said the “scariest thing about it” was that the man was just standing outside the shelter when he was shot.
Lewis said he was in the sleeping area of the shelter when he heard five gunshots; he initially thought that someone had fallen to the floor. He then saw several people running into the shelter from outside.
The man shot in the stomach came into the shelter and told another guest that he had been shot, Lewis said. The guests were able to lay the man on the ground and help him until the paramedics arrived on the scene.
Lewis said Tullgren, the pastor, had offered counseling to anyone who needed it.
Phillip Matthew, an employee at the shelter, said violent episodes were not common there.
“First time I’ve seen this happen in the 10 years that I’ve been involved with the agency,” Matthew said.
Stan Hamnett, program director of Gospel Rescue Mission, said the nondenominational shelter has 101 beds. People who want to stay there must present a photo ID and a tuberculosis card, he said.
When the weather gets below 40 degrees, the shelter allows additional people to stay on mats on the floor, Hamnett added. However, when the weather is nice, and if the beds are filled, the shelter turns people away.
“Anyone can come by here,” Hamnett said. “We don’t ask anyone any questions.”
Tullgren said he was not sure if the shelter would change its policies because of the shooting.