Officials identified the driver who was shot and killed on Monday after leading law enforcement officers on a pursuit in Nogales.
The driver was Glen Ray Cockrum, 39, said the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which said it is conducting a criminal investigation of actions by Cockrum that led to the chase around 1 p.m. Monday on Interstate 19. DPS officials said they do not know where Cockrum lived.
After the pursuit, Cockrum was shot and killed by officers with the Nogales Police Department and deputies with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, authorities said.
DPS officials said the investigation is still in a preliminary phase. They did not disclose why law enforcement officers started pursuing Cockrum or the rationale for opening fire on Cockrum in a crowded Walmart parking lot and then on a busy street.
A man of Cockrum's name and age, who had a semi-truck and trailer, was arrested in 2018 in Arkansas on charges of threatening his father and stealing his truck, court records show. Arizona authorities were not available late Wednesday to confirm he was the same man.
The Nogales Police Department did not respond to multiple inquiries from the Arizona Daily Star about Monday's incident.
The department's social media accounts on Monday said no injuries to the public were reported during the pursuit and shooting.
The pursuit began after an incident at a produce warehouse in Rio Rico, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway. He said he could not provide any information about the incident at the warehouse.
Bystander video showed a white tractor-trailer stopped next to a warehouse. A Border Patrol vehicle was parked nearby and at least two law enforcement officers pointed their weapons at the tractor-trailer. The driver then drove out of the warehouse parking lot.
After leaving the warehouse, the driver led law enforcement officers north on Interstate 19, said Hathaway, speaking before DPS released Cockrum's name.
The interstate runs directly in front of a series of produce warehouses in Rio Rico, which along with Nogales is home to a multibillion-dollar cross-border produce industry. Cellphone videos from bystanders showed a white tractor-trailer headed north on I-19 followed by numerous law enforcement vehicles.
The driver approached the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-19, which is located about 15 miles north of Rio Rico, and "veered toward some officers" at the checkpoint before making a U-turn and heading south toward Nogales, Hathaway said.
The median between the northbound and southbound lanes of I-19 just to the south of the Border Patrol checkpoint was blocked off with yellow tape on Monday afternoon.
In a statement sent before the DPS identified Cockrum as the driver, officials at the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector said agents assisted the Sheriff's Office as deputies pursued the vehicle north on I-19. Agents "terminated their involvement when the vehicle changed direction and headed south on I-19."
Border Patrol officials said the driver turned south just before reaching the checkpoint, but could not confirm whether the driver veered toward agents at the checkpoint. No shots were fired near the checkpoint.
After making a U-turn near the checkpoint and driving to Nogales, the driver entered the Walmart parking lot, Hathaway said. The Walmart is about one mile east of I-19.
Law enforcement officers from the Sheriff's Office and the Nogales Police Department shot at the truck in the Walmart parking lot, Hathaway said.
Videos taken by bystanders in the Walmart parking lot showed a white tractor-trailer stopped near law enforcement vehicles. The driver slowly pulled out of the parking lot on damaged tires alongside a line of parked cars. Law enforcement officers opened fire on the truck, leaving bullet holes in the windshield.
A reporter with the Nogales International newspaper was in the parking lot when the shooting started. One shopper took cover behind a car while another dropped to the ground holding his young son as his shopping cart rolled away, the Nogales International reported.
The driver left the parking lot and drove onto Grand Avenue, a main thoroughfare in Nogales a few hundred feet from the Walmart. Law enforcement officers fatally shot the driver on Grand Avenue, Hathaway said.
Bystander footage showed law enforcement vehicles parked in a line down one lane of Grand Avenue. When the tractor-trailer passed between the vehicles and a tall rock face on the side of Grand Avenue, officers and deputies opened fire and the tractor-trailer came to a stop.
Because both the Sheriff's Office and Nogales police being involved in the shooting, the DPS is handling the investigation, Hathaway said.
