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A sheriff's deputy was shot and killed while answering a burglary call in the north Phoenix community of Anthem early Sunday, and other deputies shot the suspect, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.

Victim: William Coleman was shot to death by a burglary suspect early Sunday morning Sheriff Arpaio said that Deputy William Coleman, 50, and his partner found a suspect in a van with a pit bull dog at a medical building at about 4am.

The man got out of the van and opened fire with a rifle, striking Deputy Coleman under his bulletproof vest.

The deputy was taken to a hospital but doctors could not save him.
It isn't clear if Deputy Coleman was able to return fire, but other deputies eventually shot and killed the suspect, Sheriff Arpaio said.
The dog was calm and was taken to a sheriff's animal shelter.

Sheriff Arpaio said investigators were trying to figure out why the 40-year-old man opened fire.

He said: 'We're trying to determine his identity, his background, to see if he has warrants or was involved in other criminal activity'.

'I want to see who and what his background is, what caused him to come out shooting.'

Deputy Coleman was a 20-year veteran. He is survived by a wife and two young children, ages 4 and 7, Arpaio said.
He also has grown children in another state.

It wasn't clear if Deputy Coleman was able to return fire, but other deputies eventually shot and killed the suspect Deputy Coleman was assigned as a patrol deputy but had previously worked the sheriff's lake patrol unit.

Last year was one of the deadliest in recent history for law enforcement officers, with 173 killed in the line of duty as of December 28, a 13 per cent increase from 2010, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Of those, 68 federal, state and local officers were killed by gunfire in 2011, a 15 per cent jump from the year before.

'There seems to be a war on cops across the nation, and here in Arizona,' Sheriff Arpaio said today.