(Police approach a truck driven by Glen Cockrum Jr. Monday after firing multiple shots into the cab as Cockrum tried to flee.) (Photo courtesy of KOLD-TV in Tucson)
A man with a previous arrest in Baxter County, and with family locally, has been killed by police in Arizona, who fired over 30 rounds into the cab of his 18-wheeler after he tried to flee following a lengthy pursuit. The incident involving 39-year-old Glen Cockrum Jr., whose last known address was in Clinton, happened Monday in Nogales, Arizona, which is located on the border with Mexico.
According to information from the Arizona Department of Public Safety and reports from media in Tuscon, shortly after 1 Monday afternoon, troopers responded to a call for assistance from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office regarding a vehicle pursuit on Interstate 19 in the Rio Rico area. Reports indicate the pursuit began after Cockrum Jr. reportedly approached a Border Patrol checkpoint in Nogales.
The vehicle involved was a tractor-trailer commercial vehicle. The troopers provided support as the pursuit headed north then back south on Interstate 19 into Nogales.
Upon entering the city of Nogales, the Nogales Police Department became involved in the chase, which came to an end after Cockrum Jr. pulled into a Walmart parking lot and then back onto the street to flee again. That’s when deputies from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and Nogales PD officers fired on the vehicle, striking the driver. A video from the scene provided to KOLD TV in Tuscon, shows over 30 shots were fired into the cab of the big rig as it was still slowly moving along a street.
A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety says the investigation into the incident is continuing and no other details will be released until their investigation is concluded. They declined to say what was being hauled in the 18-wheeler when asked by KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News.
Cockrum Jr.’s ties to Baxter County
(2018 booking photo from Baxter County Detention Center)
Cockrum Jr. was arrested in 2018 in connection with the theft of his father’s truck in rural Mountain Home. Cockrum Jr. had arrived in his 18-wheeler but when he went to leave, the big rig wouldn’t start. He asked to use his wheelchair-bound father’s truck to jump start his rig but later left in his father’s truck, which was equipped with a wheelchair lift. Clinton police later found the truck at Cockrum Jr.’s residence. He was sentenced to one year and 10 days of probation in a negotiated guilt plea to two counts of theft of property and one count of disorderly conduct.
We have received a number of calls about Cockrum Jr.’s court story from 2018 showing up on our most viewed section of ktlo.com. This is due to a large number of people doing internet searches for his name following the shooting.
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