Bear kills Arizona man in 'exceedingly rare' attack near Prescott

A 66-year-old Arizona man was killed by a bear as his neighbors tried to stop the animal in what local officials described Friday as an “exceedingly rare” attack.

Steven Jackson was killed in the attack shortly before 8 a.m. Friday near Prescott, authorities said, about 100 miles northwest of Phoenix.

“Mr. Jackson was sitting on his property in a chair, and he was attacked by a bear,” Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes told reporters during a news conference on Friday afternoon. “We do know that it was an adult male bear, there was quite a struggle, neighbors responded. They heard (Jackson) yelling, calling out for help, they tried to get the bear to stop attacking him, there was honking horns, different things that they were doing. There was no success in stopping the attack.”

According to Rhodes, the black bear had pulled Jackson “maybe 75 yards” away from his property and was in the process of consuming him when a neighbor shot and ultimately killed the bear.

Darren Tucker, a field supervisor with Arizona Game and Fish, said that the last known fatal bear attack in Arizona happened in 2011 in the Pinetop area, further adding to the “extremely uncommon” nature of the attack, stating that it seemed “predatory in nature.”

“We didn’t see any obvious attractants. The location and the surrounding residencies looked pretty tidy,” Tucker told reporters. “However, typically, nine times out of ten when we have wildlife-human conflict there is some nexus to food. Whether that’s feeding of wildlife or access to trash containers. As we continue our investigation, I don’t know if any of that information will turn up.”

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Tucker said that an initial evaluation of the bear deemed it to be “healthy and in good condition,” but depending on the results of a full necropsy on the animal, it could help determine a factor that may have sparked the attack.

As for the safety of the surrounding residents, Rhodes said that there is no outstanding threat to the community.

“We’ve had no other information that there are aggressive animals, or bears, in the area,” Rhodes said.

Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office advised the public not to shoot any bears unless there is an immediate threat to you or the safety of others, as it is against the law otherwise.