Law officers shoot, kill driver as chase ends near Nogales Walmart, sheriff says

The driver of a tractor-trailer was shot and killed by law officers Monday after a chase that led from Interstate 19 south to a Walmart parking lot in Nogales, officials said.

Officers from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and the Nogales Police Department fired at the driver in the Walmart parking lot and on nearby Grand Avenue, where the driver stopped, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway.

Hathaway confirmed the driver died after being shot, but he did not who the driver was or what caused the police pursuit. He said he also did not know whether the driver fired on the officers.

Eyewitnesses told the Nogales International that the semi-truck entered the parking lot driving recklessly at about 1:40 p.m. Police tried to stop the truck with a spike strip, the paper reported.

The Nogales Police Department said later in a statement that the scene was secured and there was no danger to the public.

At least eight law enforcement vehicles remained in the Walmart parking lot as of 5 p.m. Yellow police tape blocked off several nearby roads and the parking lot.

Due to both local law enforcement agencies being involved in the shooting, the Arizona Department of Public Safety is handling the investigation, Hathaway said.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Videos posted on Twitter on Monday afternoon show police trying to stop a white tractor-trailer as it drives slowly in the store’s crowded parking lot.

In one of the videos the semi drives out of the parking lot, and gunfire can be heard. The windshield of the semi appears to have several bullet holes.

Nogales Police Chief Roy Bermudez said the semi crashed into one NPD vehicle at Walmart but did not strike any other vehicles. He was not sure about injuries aside from those sustained by the driver.

Other videos also show the rig at what appears to be a produce company and at a border checkpoint, where gunfire also can be heard.

Officials taped off an area next to the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 19, about 25 miles north of Nogales. The public affairs office at the Border Patrol declined to provide information about the incident there.