PHOENIX — A fugitive thought to be hiding in the wilderness on the Arizona-Utah line laid in wait and ambushed a Utah sheriff’s deputy who was pursuing him after an attempted burglary, fatally shooting the deputy with a high-powered rifle, authorities said Friday.
Scott Curley, 23, hid beneath a tree in the small town of Fredonia just south of the Utah border and waited for two pursuing deputies to get closer, said Coconino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Erika Wiltenmuth.
That is when, Wiltenmuth said, Curley raised his rifle and shot at the deputies, killing Kane County Deputy Brian Harris, 41, a married father of two. Harris was hit from between 40 and 150 feet away.
A massive manhunt was underway for Curley, who fled into a wilderness covered with rock formations and caves.
Curley was familiar with the area and might have stashed food and supplies in caves and cliffs described as “spider holes,” his friends told investigators.
“I think he had malice in his heart, but I didn’t think it would go this far,” said Richard Pulliam, a neighbor of Curley’s in Fredonia, Ariz.
Pulliam, 68, who has lived across the street from Curley and three other men since 2005, told The Associated Press that the four men would sometimes party at their house into the late-night hours or drive home drunk and pass out on the lawn before making it inside.
Harris was shot Thursday afternoon while chasing Curley, who was suspected of trying to burglarize Fredonia High School and holding a janitor at gunpoint for an unknown period of time Wednesday night.
The janitor was unharmed, and Curley avoided authorities until the Thursday chase. Authorities were preparing for a days-long search.
