Arizona authorities to release more details on police helicopter that crashed during shootout

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities plan to release more information Friday about an Arizona law enforcement helicopter crash that killed the pilot and a trooper on board during a police shootout with a domestic violence suspect.

The suspect, whose identity has not been released, fired on officers from multiple rooftops in Flagstaff over almost two hours Wednesday night.

The suspect was taken into custody soon after the crash and to a hospital with nonfatal gunshot wounds. It wasn’t clear what caused the helicopter to crash in what authorities called an accident.

The confrontation began when law enforcement officers responded to a domestic violence call around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Flagstaff Police Chief Sean Connolly said at a news conference Thursday.

As the officers spoke with the victim in the front yard, the suspect opened fire on them from the back of the residence with a semiautomatic long rifle.

A protracted gunbattle ensued, with the unidentified suspect “hopping from roof to roof” in the neighborhood while shooting at officers. The police chief described the neighborhood as “under siege” while the suspect shot on officers and into homes.

Connolly indicated three Flagstaff police officers and one Department of Public Safety employee fired their weapons during the altercation.

Pilot Robert Skanky was a longtime resident of Kingman, Arizona, city officials said in a statement. Skanky had been hired by the Arizona Department of Public Safety in May 2021 and previously served 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, according to a Fraternal Order of Police organization in Arizona.

The name of the trooper, who was also a paramedic, was not immediately released. He had joined the Department of Public Safety in 2022.