SHIPROCK, N.M. — A Florida man and his 14-year-old niece were found dead with gunshot wounds to the head after a wild car chase across the Southwest in which multiple shots were fired at officers.
Lt. Kyle Lincoln with the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said Benjamin James Edwards III, 31, of St. Augustine was a person of interest in the theft of a firearm and in the disappearance of his niece, also of St. Augustine. The girl, who was the second person found dead, was reported missing May 4.
The chase began Monday morning after sheriff’s deputies in Montezuma County were called after gasoline was stolen in Cortez in the southwestern part of Colorado. Investigators said shots were fired at the deputies, and the driver fled toward the Colorado-New Mexico state line, about 30 miles away.
During the chase, the driver periodically pointed a gun out the window and shot at pursuing officers. One bullet broke the rear driver’s side window of a car driven by a vacationing German couple. The tourists were not injured.
The chase ended in New Mexico when the driver lost control and high-centered the SUV. Officers broke out a window and found the occupants dead.
