By Megan Janetsky & Emily Balli, AZ Central
A Show Low police officer has died after being shot outside a fast-food restaurant, and the suspected shooter was said to be holed up at a cabin in a neighboring community Tuesday night.
Authorities said they were no longer actively searching for the suspect, 36-year-old Daniel Erickson, because he had barricaded himself in a rental cabin at Lake of the Woods Resort in Pinetop-Lakeside.
The standoff had been going on for about an hour as of 9 p.m.
Show Low police say Officer Darrin Reed was shot about 1:30 p.m. outside an Arby’s restaurant, and the motive for the shooting wasn’t immediately clear.
Reed taken to a Summit Healthcare Regional Medical Center after Tuesday afternoon’s shooting and later died from his injuries.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family following this tragic incident,” Show Low police said in a news release.
(Show Low sergeant speaks with ABC15 about officer-involved shooting earlier today. Courtesy of ABC15 Arizona and YouTube)
Early on, police had identified Erickson as the suspect and warned the public not to approach him.
Erickson was seen leaving a Show Low Days Inn shortly after the shooting in a heavily damaged, dark blue or black 1989 Chevrolet S10 Blazer, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety and a police department Facebook post.
It wasn’t clear when or where Erickson had switched vehicles, but he was later said to be in a brown or gray 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Additional police activity was reported near the Lake of the Woods Resort at about 8:10 p.m. The Arizona Department of Transportation tweeted that State Route 260 was closed about eight miles south of U.S. 60 in the area of the resort.
Doug Wetmore, owner of Moose Henri’s Grille Cork and Taps, a restaurant about 1 1/2 miles from the resort, said he had been hearing police and emergency-vehicle sirens on and off for about an hour as of 8:15 p.m.
Wetmore said that one of the customers in the restaurant had a police scanner and they heard that shots had been fired into a cabin at Lake of the Woods.
Shortly before 9 p.m., an official with the Timber Mesa Fire & Medical District confirmed that the man suspected in the police officer’s slaying was in a standoff situation in Pinetop-Lakeside.
Kirk Webb, community risk manager for the district, said negotiations were in progress.
Erickson is a convicted felon who served two stints in the Arizona Department of Corrections, according to the department’s website.
He was most recently released from prison in June 2013 at the end of a four-year sentence for a marijuana conviction out of Cochise County.
Previously, he spent five months in prison in 2007 for an endangerment conviction in Pinal County.
Details about those cases were not immediately available Tuesday night.
Authorities urge anyone with information to call 911, the Show Low Police Department at 928-537-4365 or the WeTip hotline at 800-782-7463.
