BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. — A suspect is dead after he was shot by the Bullhead City Police Department on Thursday, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, the agency investigating the shooting.
The suspect has been identified as Erick Tom Watkins, 48, of Bullhead City.
The sheriff’s office said the incident began in Las Vegas with a stolen mail truck and then crossed the stateline into Arizona.
According to the sheriff’s office, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was investigating the mail truck theft in the area of S. Pearl Street and E. Chaparral Road in Fort Mohave. The mail truck’s driver had left the vehicle when another vehicle drove up to it, and its passenger got out and took the mail truck. The suspect then drove away in the mail truck with the other vehicle, being driven by the second suspect, following it.
Officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department found the vehicle believed to have been involved in the incident near the 2900 block of S. Casino Drive in Laughlin. Surveillance video was used to identify the suspects, according to the sheriff’s office.
A short time later, an officer found one of the suspects behind a building near the river. The officers approached the suspect and the man pointed a handgun at the officer, the sheriff’s office said.
The officer took cover and the suspect ran away, with the officer pursuing him. The suspect ran to a boat dock along the river and then took a boat and traveled across the river to Arizona, the sheriff’s office said.
After the suspect was back on land, he ran into an apartment complex in the 1600 block of Highway 95 in Bullhead City, according to the sheriff’s office.
Officers with the Bullhead City Police Department found the suspect at the apartment complex. As an officer drove into the complex, the suspect pointed a gun at the officer. When the officer got out of his vehicle, “the subject immediately began firing at the officer.” The officer returned fire. Another officer also arrived at the scene and began firing at the suspect. The suspect was hit during the exchange of gunfire, the sheriff’s office said.
“Officers performed life-saving measures and summoned medical personnel to the scene,” the sheriff’s office said. “However, the subject had succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased on scene.”
According to the sheriff’s office, multiple active felony warrants for Watkins were revealed during a records check.
The other suspect remains outstanding.