Driver turns gun on himself on SR 347

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Police vehicles on the scene of a "high-risk traffic stop" along State Route 347, south of Farrell Road, at about 2:45 a.m. July 9. [ADOT]

A man died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head in his truck on State Route 347 overnight Saturday after police conducted a “high-risk traffic stop” south of Farrell Road. 

Four law enforcement agencies – the Maricopa Police Department, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Pinal County Sheriff’s Office and the Ak-Chin Police Department – were on scene in front of Ak-Chin Circle Entertainment Center. 

An image taken by a passerby showed police vehicles surrounding a pick-up truck stopped in the southbound lanes of the highway and appeared to show a white sheet covering a body lying in the street next to the truck. 

Authorities have southbound SR 347 closed at Farrell Road while an investigation continues. No officers were injured in the incident, police said.

The incident started about 1:15 a.m. when police received a call of an argument between a husband and his wife, according to Sgt. Hal Koozer, spokesman with the Maricopa Police Department. 

The husband drove away from the house after telling his wife that if she called police, he would kill himself, Koozer said. 

Officers located the vehicle and conducted a “high-risk traffic stop” on SR 347, just south of Farrell Road, police said. 

When the driver failed to respond to commands given by officers, police fired “less-lethal rounds” into the cab of the truck through the back window, and still there was no response from the man, Koozer said. 

As officers approached the stopped vehicle, they found the driver was deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Koozer said, adding that none of the less lethal rounds fired by police had struck the driver. 

A medical examiner was summoned to the scene, police said. 

The driver was not identified pending notification of the family, Koozer said.

This breaking news story will be updated as more information becomes available.

The southbound lanes of State Route 347 were closed at Farrell Road. [ADOT]
Numerous police agencies, including the Maricopa Police Department, at the scene overnight Saturday of an incident on southbound State Route 347 in front of Ak-Chin Circle Entertainment Center.