An aircraft operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation and detainee transfers was hit by a bullet during an exchange of gunfire between police officers and a suspect near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport late last month.
Officials said the aircraft, an Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-800, was parked on the ramp.
“The bullet bounced off the plane, and no damage was reported,” the agency said in a statement to the Arizona Mirror.
Police said the shooting began after officers responded to a trespassing call. The suspect fled when officers arrived. Officers used a grappler device to stop the suspect’s vehicle, leading to a standoff in which the suspect and police exchanged gunfire. One officer was shot in the side and later released from the hospital, while the suspect, 34-year-old Cameron Oberlin, died from what Mesa police described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The department has not said whether investigators determined who fired the bullet that hit the plane.
The aircraft is reportedly used for deportation flights to Central America and had been repainted white as part of efforts to obscure its identity. Flight data showed that the plane conducted a brief flight the day after the shooting but returned to the airport shortly after takeoff. ICE did not respond to follow-up questions from the Arizona Mirror regarding that aborted flight.
Can you please send your people to a journalism or staff writing (military) course?! Here’s a rule - you don’t use someone’s name, in this case you mention Oberlin out of the blue, before you introduce him (full name, age etc); otherwise just leave it as “suspect” or other neutral term.
Similar to the rule of never ever use an acronym without writing it out in full the first time it’s used.
More and more you come across as a high school newspaper. Be better, be professional.