David Leroy French is accused of wounding nine people in a July downtown shooting before a Tucson police officer shot him.
TUCSON, Ariz. — A 21-year-old man accused of shooting nine people during a confrontation in downtown Tucson is being held without bond as his case moves toward a May 3, 2027, trial, according to court reporting and records released since the July shooting.
David Leroy French is accused of opening fire shortly after 2 a.m. July 19 near East Congress Street and North Sixth Avenue, outside Empire Pizza & Pub. Police said the gunfire followed a verbal confrontation between two groups. Nine adults were wounded, while French was shot by a Tucson police officer responding to the scene. Authorities have said the nine victims survived. French has pleaded not guilty to charges connected with the shooting.
The case has continued to develop since the initial complaint was filed. Early court documents accused French of nine counts of aggravated assault involving a deadly weapon, nine counts involving serious physical injury and another firearm-related offense. Local reporting from his August arraignment said he faced 29 criminal counts, while an October report announcing the trial date listed nine counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, nine counts of aggravated assault involving serious physical injury and one count of discharging a firearm at a structure. Public reports reviewed do not fully explain the difference in those counts.
Police said officers assigned to the downtown district were already on foot patrol when they heard gunfire and moved toward the area. Surveillance footage cited in court records showed a person identified by investigators as French firing toward a crowd before running along Congress Street. Officers encountered him within seconds, according to later video and police accounts.
Body-camera footage released in September by the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team showed Tucson police Officer Tanner Wolverton pursuing French and ordering him to drop a gun. The footage showed French falling after Wolverton fired. Officers then provided medical aid to French and to people wounded nearby. French was hospitalized with serious injuries before later being transferred into custody.
The Pima Regional Critical Incident Team investigated Wolverton’s use of force because the encounter involved a police shooting. Tucson police separately handled the criminal investigation into the gunfire that wounded the nine other people. Police said no officers were injured. The department initially reported that the nine victims were taken to hospitals in critical condition, and Chief Monica Prieto later said they were recovering and that many had been released.
French appeared in Pima County Superior Court in August, where a judge ordered him held without bond. Judge Tracy Miller later found clear and convincing evidence that French posed a danger to the community and victims, according to local reporting. The presumption of innocence remains in place unless French is convicted in court.
The July case also drew attention to French’s criminal history. Pima County court records show he previously pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument in a separate 2024 case. He was sentenced to probation in May 2025. Authorities said he was still serving that probation when the downtown shooting occurred, and court records show a petition to revoke his probation was filed two days after the July shooting.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said after the downtown shooting that the earlier case involved French firing a weapon during an October 2024 confrontation. The shot did not hit the intended person, according to police accounts cited in local reporting. French later accepted a plea agreement and received probation. That earlier conviction is separate from the pending charges stemming from the July 2026 shooting.
The shooting occurred in one of Tucson’s busiest nightlife areas and prompted street closures while investigators collected evidence. City officials said at the time that 20 uniformed officers, five sergeants and two community service officers had been assigned to the downtown district. Police said they planned to maintain a visible presence in the area after the shooting.
French’s criminal case remains pending, and no finding of guilt has been made in the July shooting. A judge has set his trial for May 3, 2027. The nine people wounded in the shooting were expected to survive, while investigators and the courts continue handling the criminal case and related probation proceedings.
Author note: Last updated November 12, 2026.