Arizona law enforcement officers mourned a veteran U.S. Marine pilot and a trooper paramedic Friday while the cause of a helicopter crash that killed them during a police shootout with a domestic violence suspect in Flagstaff remained under investigation.
The suspect, whose identity has not been released, fired on officers from multiple rooftops in Flagstaff over almost two hours Wednesday night. He was captured at about the same time as the helicopter crash.
The helicopter crew had been playing a common role, helping officers on the ground, Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Col. Jeffrey Glover said.
“They have the ability of getting eyes and ears up top,” he said. “They have a very important role when they are running their missions.”
What caused the helicopter to crash was “under active investigation” by agencies including the National Transportation Safety Board, Glover said.
No one on the helicopter had opened fire, Glover said. The Bell 407 helicopter was “functioning just fine” when it was most recently inspected on Jan. 29, Glover said.
Glover declined to say more about possible causes, such as whether gunfire or a drone may have struck it.
“It would be just really irresponsible for us to speculate at this time. We have to allow for NTSB to conduct their investigation to figure out exactly what has occurred,” Glover said.
Trooper Hunter Bennett, 28, and pilot Robert Skankey, 61, were killed.
The confrontation began when law enforcement officers responded to a domestic violence call, Flagstaff Police Chief Sean Connolly said 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.
The suspect was taken to a hospital with nonfatal gunshot wounds.
Connolly indicated three Flagstaff police officers and one Department of Public Safety employee fired their weapons during the altercation.
Skankey was a longtime resident of Kingman, Arizona, city officials said in a statement. He had been hired by the Arizona Department of Public Safety in May 2021 and previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was married and had four children, Glover said.
Bennett was an honors graduate of Arizona State University and the top graduate of his 2023 Arizona Law Enforcement Academy class. He transferred to an air rescue unit in 2024 and months later married his high school sweetheart, officials said.
Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration, said the flight data suggested a possible a mechanical problem or pilot disorientation but it was too soon to know for certain.
Before crashing, the helicopter was making a pass back to the shootout scene when it slowed to almost a hover about 1,000 feet (300 meters) over a hilltop, Guzzetti noted from public flight-path data.
The path didn't indicate a hit by a drone or gunfire, Guzzetti said. If that were so, he said, the pilot likely would have been able to radio that information in and attempt to land somewhere.
“Everything up until the last minute of flight seemed normal in terms of the altitude and airspeed. After it made that turn is when things become curious to me,” Guzzetti said.
The NTSB has investigated 26 fatal accidents involving Bell 407 helicopters over the past 20 years. Three involved mechanical problems.
“I’m not aware of any bad reputation for this helicopter,” Guzzetti said.
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The spelling of the pilot’s last name has been corrected from Skanky to Skankey, based on new information from authorities.
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Associated Press writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.