Eight officers and a Walmart employee were assaulted in a Cottonwood parking lot Saturday night in a fight that left one suspect dead, another wounded and seven in custody, officials said. The fight happened Saturday night after the Cottonwood Police Department received a call at 11:52 p.m. from a Cottonwood Walmart reporting that a suspect shoved a female employee in a store bathroom, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
When officers arrived, the suspects were in the parking lot and attacked the officers, DPS said. One suspect was shot and killed during the fight, another was shot in the abdomen, and a total of seven others were taken into custody, DPS said.
The suspects are from the same family, according to DPS spokesman Bart Graves. The seven in custody, five adult males, a woman and a female juvenile, refused to provide their names, Graves said.
The suspects will be booked as John and Jane Does on suspicion of aggravated assault, attempted homicide, obstruction of justice and a separate assault charge related to the Walmart employee, who suffered a broken arm, Graves said.
A vehicle believed to belong to the suspects had an Idaho license plate, Graves said.
A Walmart employee and eight officers were involved in the fight. One officer was shot in the leg and the other seven were left with cuts and bruises.
"We do believe that there was a struggle for an officer's weapon, there is an ongoing investigation on that," Graves said.
The officer that was shot in the leg is 31 years old and has been with Cottonwood police for 10 years, the release said. He was flown to Flagstaff Medical Center for surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.
DPS and local police cleared the scene just after noon Sunday. Dozens of cars circled around the area where the shooting occurred near the back end of the parking lot.
The suspects had been staying in a Suburban vehicle for at least four days in the parking lot, according to a man camping out in an RV in the parking lot. The man would not give his name.
The man said he looked out of his RV's window after the brawl and shootout woke him up Saturday night. He heard screaming and saw people running around and firing guns.
