Las Vegas Sun

April 18, 2024

Handcuffed woman shoots deputy in hand at Arizona gas stop

KINGMAN, Ariz. — A handcuffed woman who was arrested with a gun at a highway gas station near Kingman Tuesday managed to grab a revolver from a detective's holster and shoot him in the hand before another officer tased her.

The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office detective was treated at a local hospital for a non-life threatening hand injury.

Bullhead City police said they are investigating the shooting after sheriff’s deputies responded at 9:15 a.m. to reports of an erratic female with a gun inside the Maverick Country Store on U.S. 68 in Golden Valley 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Bullhead City.

She was combative before officers arrested her for disorderly conduct with a weapon and resisting arrest, police said in a statement.

When the detective escorted her outside in handcuffs, she “somehow grabbed the detective’s duty weapon out of its holster,” the statement said. “When the detective felt her grab his gun and tried to stop her, she discharged the weapon and shot him in his hand.”

Police identified the woman as Brenda Thomas, 51, of Golden Valley. She was not injured.

Police said she faced an additional charge of attempted second-degree homicide when she was expected to be booked into the Mohave County Jail in Kingman later Tuesday.

— This story has been corrected to show that Thomas faces an 'attempted’ second-degree homicide charge, not second-degree homicide.