Chandler Officer Killed During Undercover Drug Investigation Identified; Drug at Center of Investigation: Weed
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Ledesma, a father of two, was part of an operation in which undercover officers tried to buy bails of weed from suspects arrested at the scene, a home near South 23rd Avenue and Vineyard Road in Phoenix.
Something went wrong, though, and someone inside the house started shooting.
A shootout took place between suspects and roughly a dozen Chandler police officers, who were stationed near the house.
The gunfight spilled into the driveway of the house, and one suspect was shot as he tried to get into a car that was parked in the driveway.
Ledesma and two other officers, who were also shot, were not wearing bullet-proof vests, police officials confirm.
When the smoke cleared, Ledesma was dead -- along with two suspects -- and two other officers were wounded.
Those officers, police say, are expected to recover.
The motive behind the shooting is unclear, but Phoenix police officials think the drug dealers' intention was to rob the officers, who had on them hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the buy.
The names of six suspects detained at the scene have not been released, nor have the names of the surviving officers.
The Chandler Police Department is asking anyone who wishes to donate money to honor the fallen officer do so in Wells Fargo account number 9918672768.
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