TUCSON, AZ (3TV / CBS 5) – One of the two Tucson rescue workers who were wounded in a mass shooting on July 18 has died. According to a post on the Facebook page Community Praying for Jacob Didinger, he died on the night of Thursday, July 29th. The company he worked for, American Medical Response, confirmed his death.
Didinger was shot in the head and his partner was shot in the arm and chest while they were in their ambulance at the Quincie Douglas Center in Silverlake Park. They were staged there during a shootout and house fire near South Campbell Avenue and East Irene Vista.
The 35-year-old suspect Leslie Stephen Scarlett was shot dead by a police officer and later died.
When the ambulance reached Silverlake Park near Quincie Douglas Community Center, police said Scarlett pulled up in a silver SUV, got out, and approached the ambulance. Police said Scarlett pointed in the direction of the fire, and when the rescue workers looked like it, Scarlett fired multiple shots through the driver’s side window. Didinger was in the driver’s seat. Although his partner was wounded, he was able to call for help. Both were later taken to the hospital.
In a statement posted on social media on July 23, Dindinger’s family said the 20-year-old was born in Long Beach, California and moved to El Paso, Texas as a child before settling in Tucson. He graduated from Canyon del Oro High School in 2019.
Didinger’s older brother, Bryan Presetti, is a firefighter / engineer, the family said. Dindinger decided to become an EMT after visiting him in Long Beach, California. Dindinger then enrolled in the EMT program at Pima Community College and shortly thereafter became a certified EMT in Arizona.
Didinger was hired by AMR in March and was planning to attend a medical school.
“You go to a fire and try to be helpful and someone just shows up and starts shooting. Really can’t come to terms with it. It’s pointless.”
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