A man who was fatally shot by law enforcement officers in northwest Arizona on July 11 has been identified as a 54-year-old California man.
The Bullhead City Police Department, which is conducting an independent review of the shooting in the community of Golden Valley by Mohave County sheriff's detective and a DEA agent, identified the dead man as Silas Andrew Smith Jr. of Bellflower, California.
Police spokeswoman Emily Fromelt said officers spotted a man who they believed was being sought for questioning in a drug investigation and attempted to stop his vehicle. She said the man fled and later led the officers on a foot pursuit into the desert. At that point, she said, the subject later identified as Smith raised a firearm.
"Both Smith and police discharged their weapons. No officers were injured," Fromelt said in a news release. "Silas Smith Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene."
Fromelt said it turned out that Smith was not the unidentified individual they thought they were chasing.
One of the officers has been identified as Aaron Devries, 30, a detective with the Mohave County Sheriff's office. The other officer is a DEA agent whom authorities are not identifying.