The Glennwilde man who turned a handgun on himself on July 9 in his pickup truck on State Route 347 was being sought by police after his wife reported he had taken photos of his juvenile daughter as she slept in her underwear, according to police.
The daughter woke her mom about 1 a.m. to tell her what happened. The man’s wife then called police. She told officers who responded to their home that she had confronted her husband after her daughter had awakened while her father was taking photos of her with a cellphone, according to an investigative report obtained by InMaricopa via public records request.
The suspect’s wife confronted him and took his phone, finding “several recent photos of [her daughter’s] genital area,” the report by Maricopa police investigators said. When his wife accused him, the suspect allegedly told her that “if you call the cops, I will kill myself.”
The woman told officers there was no sexual activity and that it was the first time her husband had displayed “inappropriate behavior.”
The suspect had fled the home in his blue Ford F-150 truck, his wife said. He had consumed about a fifth of whiskey earlier in the evening while swimming in the pool, she said.
She also told police her husband possessed a 1911 handgun (.45 caliber) as well as a 9mm handgun that he kept in the truck.
Unresponsive subject
While police were taking information from the woman at the home, an officer on patrol spotted her husband’s vehicle in the area of Porter and Farrell roads, and followed it westbound on Farrell.
Just before 1:30 a.m., police conducted a “high-risk traffic stop” on the blue pickup on SR 347 in the vicinity of the Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel and Casino, the report said. Officers at the scene had been alerted by colleagues at the family home that the suspect was likely armed.
When the driver didn’t respond verbally or physically to officers on the scene, an officer was summoned to fire a “less-lethal” shotgun at the rear of the vehicle in an effort to elicit response from the man.
About 2 a.m., two initial shotgun blasts from 25 feet failed to shatter the rear window of the truck, the report said. The officer was then ordered to fire two more shots at the sliding rear window of the truck cab, but still officers did not have a clear view into the vehicle and the suspect did not comply with police commands.
At that point, five officers and the department K9, Karma, approached the vehicle to make contact with the man, police said. As officers neared the vehicle and pulled open the driver-side door, they reported the suspect slumped over toward the passenger seat, with a handgun in his hand. When the man still did not respond to commands, Karma was released and ordered to bite the suspect in the thigh, according to the investigative report.
When that failed to draw a response, officers pulled the man’s body out of truck and onto the roadway and saw an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to his right temple with an exit wound on the left side of the head, the report said.
They checked for a pulse, and finding none called the Maricopa Fire Department to the scene. About 2:11 a.m., the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and the body was covered with a blanket, police said. A Pinal County medical examiner was summoned.
The police report redacted the man’s last name and InMaricopa is not reporting the man’s first name because of the nature of the alleged offense and his relationship with the victim.
Evidence seized
Officers searched the man’s truck.
A black Smith & Wesson M&P .45 caliber handgun found on the passenger floorboard was chambered with full metal jacket round. The capacity of the magazine was 10 – eight found in the magazine, one chambered and one shot, police said.
A second firearm, a Smith & Wesson model from 1911, was found in the front seat center console, police said. That gun did not have a chambered round and had a loaded magazine of eight .45 Auto caliber cartridges.
Another magazine of 10 .45 Auto caliber cartridges was found in the driver-side door.
An apparent bullet hole was located in the interior headliner above the driver side door, but it could not be recovered at the scene, the report said.
A detective’s report included in the investigative document made the following conclusion: “On 7/9/22, at approximately 0100 hours, [the suspect] committed the violation of ARS 13-3019A2 Surreptitious Photographing, Videotaping, Filming or Digitally Recording, class 5 felony, when he took photographs of his [redacted]-year-old daughter in her underwear while she was sleeping in her bed. [The suspect] committed suicide on 7/9/22, at approximately 0125 hours. Case closed by exceptional means.”
