Rookie Ariz. police officer killed in shootout

Nov. 27, 2008: This photo released by the Flagstaff Police Department, shows police officer Tyler Stewart. (AP)

A 24-year-old Arizona police officer and a suspect were both killed after a shootout Saturday afternoon, police said.

Officer Tyler Stewart, 24, died at Flagstaff Medical Center after he was shot by a suspect in a domestic-violence case, the Flagstaff Police Department confirmed late Saturday in a statement.

Stewart, who had worked at the department for less than a year, was looking for the suspect about 1:30 p.m. when a man identified as Robert W. Smith, 28, of Prescott, fired several shots at the officer. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene after he shot himself, police said.

Stewart was taken to Flagstaff Medical Center in critical condition and then later died, police said.

Police had said earlier that they were looking for another person involved in the domestic violence case, the Associated Press reported.

Stewart was a graduate of Boulder Creek High School in Anthem, Arizona, and Concordia College in California.

"This is an enormous tragedy for our department and the family of our Officer. We are a very close knit organization, and know that all members of the Flagstaff Police Department are grieving at this time.  With that being said, all of the men and women of the Flagstaff Police Department extend our prayers and condolences to the family of our Officer Tyler Stewart," Chief Kevin Treadway said in a statement.

"It is heartbreaking to lose one of our officers," Mayor Jerry Nabours said.  "We collectively mourn for his family and the entire department."

The shooting was the second one of a police officer in northern Arizona in the past three months. In October, a tribal police officer of the Navajo Nation was shot in the face during a shootout with a male suspect in the town of Kaibeto, which is 75 miles north of Flagstaff. The officer survived.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.