A man who witnessed an attack on an Arizona state trooper is receiving praise for the heroic action he took to save the trooper’s life, and he believes that “God put him there to assist.”
Last Thursday a motorist heading westbound on the I-10 heading for California noticed the altercation and pulled over to help, according to ABC 15. Trooper Ed Andersson had been shot twice by the suspect and was struggling to defend himself against his assailant who was beating his head into the pavement.
The man warned the suspect to stop attacking Andersson but when his warning was ignored the man retrieved a gun from his car. The man shot the suspect twice and started to help the trooper when the suspect got up and began attacking him again. The hero delivered a third and final shot, this time to the head, and killed the suspect on the scene, according to CNN.
Twitter users reacted to the man’s heroic actions:
A Good Samaritan in the Constitutional Carry state of Arizona saves a police officer under attack. https://t.co/JWMmzCrhWl
— GunOwnersofAmerica (@GunOwners) January 13, 2017
Real hero => Arizona Trooper Shot in Ambush. Passerby Shoots Trooper’s Attacker https://t.co/t64hsy28S0 pic.twitter.com/V4eUq7RBjE
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) January 13, 2017
The entire incident began when Arizona State Trooper Ed Andersson, a 27-year veteran, responded to calls on the Interstate-10 near Tonopah about vehicles being shot at and reports of a man on the highway dragging a woman’s body away from a crash. The woman’s body turned out to be his female passenger who was killed in the crash. When Andersson arrived, he noticed an overturned vehicle off the highway and started putting down flares when he was ambushed by the suspect.
Andersson is recovering in the hospital and is expected to be ok.
Thanks for the thoughts and prayers this morning for our Trooper that was shot. Looks like he will be okay after some recovery @Arizona_DPS
— Col. Frank Milstead (@frank_milstead) January 12, 2017
“He is a very spiritual guy and he told me that he believes that God put him there that morning so he could save Trooper Andersson’s life,” the director of Arizona’s Department of Public Safety, Col Frank L. Milstead, told CNN.