PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Newly obtained and edited emergency calls are revealing more about the moments when a federal agent was shot and killed by a fellow agent at a shooting range during a training in north Phoenix in 2023.
IRS Special Agent Larry Edward Brown Jr. was charged with involuntary manslaughter of an officer in the Aug. 17, 2023, shooting death of Special Agent Patrick Bauer. He was ultimately found not guilty.
In one of the calls, the 911 caller is heard stating that they have “someone with a self-inflicted gun wound.” The 911 dispatcher replied, “What’s the address?”
“Where is it?” The caller is heard speaking away from the phone, off in the distance.
“Where did they shoot themselves? Where did they hit themselves?” the dispatcher asked. “In the chest,” the caller replied. “We’re, we’re, we’re, we’re working on chest presses right now.”
“All right, let me get us online with the fire department as well. Hold on a moment,” the 911 dispatcher answered. A few moments later, fire crews come on the line.
“OK. OK. Let’s see, we are at the, we’re, gosh, we’re off, we’re off of,” the 911 caller was heard saying, breathing heavily.
Fire department crews ask, “Are they awake?” and the caller replies, “He’s awake.”
A fire dispatcher is heard asking for a phone number and then asking, “And what’s going on there?”
“Um, we just had a, uh, accidental discharge, um, on, uh, in the tower, on the range tower,” the caller said. “Looks like right to the torso, um, area below the ribcage. We got his chest sealed. And, uh, what do you need?”
- Fire dispatcher: “And just to confirm, he was, he was shot?”
- Caller: “Yeah, he was, he was.”
- Fire dispatcher: “And that’s like ribcage, correct?”
- Caller: “Uh, below the ribcage, I think in the guts.”
At this point in the call, the dispatcher and caller have a hard time figuring out an exact location.
“I can meet you at the gate. There’s not really a gate. You can drive through, but I can meet you out there,” the caller said.
First responders continued to gather more information. “Is this the, the male or female?” The caller answered, “It’s between. So the firing, the shooting range is between the female and the male side.”
- 911 dispatcher: “Sir, are there officers there? Or…”
- Caller: “I mean, we’re federal law enforcement. But not like locals,”
- Caller: “We need, we need EMS.”
At this point, emergency crews try to coordinate where they’ll meet up.
- Fire dispatcher: “And just to confirm, this is a prisoner that was shot?” the fire official asked.
- Caller: “No, no, no. So, um… It was an accidental discharge on… on a… with a firearm instructor. It was not a prisoner.”
- Caller: “We were here doing training at the firing range.”
- Caller: “It was one of the, one of the firearms instructors was accidentally shot by another.”
- Fire dispatcher: “Alright. Actually, it looks like somebody else just called it in right now.”
In the second call, the witness is heard asking dispatchers how long it’ll take before the ambulance gets there.
“We’ve been in contact with you in regards to an agent who has a, has a gunshot wound to his abdomen area. We just want to know if you have a status of when the paramedics, or if they’re en route.”
The 911 dispatcher answers, “So you guys were connected with the fire department when you last called?”
He explained that another agent was on the phone who attempted to provide an address, and explained that he is at a facility for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The 911 dispatcher asks about a specific address, but since it’s not known, she then redirects them to the fire department. The 911 caller is then able to answer the caller’s question.
- Caller: “We just wanna see if we can get a status of when the paramedics will arrive,” the caller asks.
- Dispatcher: “The fire truck is showing at about 33rd Avenue and North Valley Parkway.”
- Caller: “Do you have an estimated time of arrival? Cause we’ve got agents…”
- Dispatcher: “Sir, I don’t know the exact time of arrival. That’s where they’re responding from. And I would guess, six to eight minutes.”
- Caller: “Alright. Thanks for letting me know,”
On Aug. 17, 2023, Brown shot Bauer at a gun range at the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix, after Bauer had just finished overseeing standard live-fire pistol qualification exercises.
Sixteen IRS criminal investigators, who examine violations of tax, money laundering, and other federal laws, had participated in the pistol qualification and classroom exercises at the complex.
Brown and Bauer were in the “tower” after training had ended for the day.
Prosecutors said Brown recklessly handled his gun and shot Bauer in the midsection. Bauer died in the hospital, and according to court records, his last words were, “Larry’s an effing idiot.”
After the shooting, Brown was taken to a different medical center, where he was diagnosed with an acute stress reaction.
While at the hospital, court records said Brown repeated, “I’m a use of force instructor, I should know better,” multiple times.
Prosecutors alleged the shooting was negligence, but the defense called it a tragic accident.
After the trial ended earlier this year, Brown’s attorney, Jason Lamm, said outside the courthouse that there are no winners in this case and that it was a tragic accident.
Bauer’s widow, Carrie Bauer, said the justice system failed her family and said at the time the verdict was delivered that she was “sad and confused.”
“They decided to promote unsubstantiated theories and blatant lies. The defendant chose to blame other agents, EMS, surgeons, and Pat himself in lieu of taking responsibility for his own gross negligence,” she wrote. “It breaks my heart to know that my husband paid with his life for the carelessness of another trained firearms instructor.”
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