Police kill man accused of shooting Arizona officer

A man accused of killing a police officer and holing up in an eastern Arizona cabin with a teenage girl believed to have been a hostage was shot dead Wednesday by officers after the suspect opened fire, authorities said.

The shooting of Daniel Erickson, 36, came after he pulled a gun Tuesday and shot Officer Darrin Reed of the Show Low Police Department when Reed was responding to a report of a disturbance at a restaurant, the department said in a statement.

It was unclear whether Reed was shot inside or outside the restaurant in the town of about 10,000 people in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.

Erickson fled following the shooting and was found at a rental cabin in the nearby community of Pinetop-Lakeside, where he barricaded himself inside with the girl, said Chief Deputy James Molesa of the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office.

“We assume that she was a hostage throughout the whole thing,” Molesa said.

The girl, who Molesa said was 14, was treated for minor injuries from glass shards. The Show Low department said she was 15. No other details about her were released.

Erickson’s death came after he fired at officers who had surrounded the cabin, and they returned fire, Molesa said.

Reed was married and had two children. The former sheriff’s deputy was scheduled to retire from the Show Low Police Department in February, Molesa said.

“He was known and liked by everybody,” Molesa said. “This will be really tough for this area.”

He said Erickson had no outstanding warrants for his arrest, but an Arizona Department of Corrections online profile said he had served prison time over the past decade after being convicted of endangerment and a crime involving marijuana.

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