Bio & Incident Details
Age: 45
Tour: 24 years
Badge # 273
Cause: Training accident
Incident Date: 2/20/2002
Weapon: Not available
Suspect: Not available
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Sergeant Thomas Hontz was killed following a training exercise when a piece of equipment exploded at about 1700 hours.
He was conducting SWAT exercises at two vacant homes when a device used to puncture a wall and pump tear gas into a room exploded. 14 other officers and firefighters from several agencies were injured as a result of the explosion.
Sergeant Hontz had been employed with the Scottsdale Police Department for 24 years, and was one of the officers responsible for the creation of the agency's SWAT team.
He is survived by his wife and three sons.
