FREDONIA, Ariz. — Officers are treading carefully in the massive desert manhunt along the Utah-Arizona border, believing the person police say shot and killed a deputy in southern Utah could kill again.
The U.S. marshal for Arizona announced a $10,000 reward for the fugitive's capture at a Saturday morning press conference. Scott Curley, 23, is charged with murder after police say he gunned down Kane County sheriff's deputy Brian Harris on Thursday afternoon.
The search for Curley now includes 36 law enforcement agencies and 318 officers traipsing over 15 square miles of the desert surrounding Kanab and Fredonia, Ariz., as well as the desert area along the border known as Clam Shell.
"This is a cop killer," said David Gonzales, the U.S. Marshal for Arizona. "We take all murders seriously, but when someone kills a cop, they will kill anyone. … We'll be here to the bitter end until we arrest this guy. We don't care how long it takes."
Coconino County sheriff's chief deputy Jim Driscoll confirmed that a profiler is aiding the search. Officials are looking at all avenues to determine what Curley's next move might be.
"He's very mobile," Driscoll said. "He can be a long way away, but where's he gonna go?"
Officials were conferring Saturday afternoon about additional measures. Besides more than 100 officers searching in the desert, K-9 units were called in to assist with tracking the suspect. Officials believe they have a shoe print, but they haven't confirmed that fact because of all the officers going through the area.
The tragedy rocked those who knew and respected Harris, 41, a 13-year veteran of the sheriff's office.
All deputies from the Kane County Sheriff's Office — Harris' brothers in arms — have been out in the field or consoling family members who knew Harris well, Sheriff LaMonte Smith said Saturday, the first time he has talked about the loss of the "well-beloved deputy."
"It's a total shock," Smith told the Deseret News. "We're a small agency. Our families know each other. We do barbecues, cook-offs together.
"I've lost my parents, but I've never lost a child," he said. "But now I feel like I've lost a child."
Deputies haven't had time to grieve because they have joined the manhunt as much as possible.
"They feel they have to," Smith said.
The search for Curley began just before 10 p.m. Wednesday after police say he had a high-powered rifle and confronted a custodian at Fredonia High School, telling the custodian to leave.
Authorities spotted Curley the next day, but he fled back to Fredonia. While in the small town just south of the Utah-Arizona border, a U.S. marshal caught sight of him and called for backup.
Deputies, including Harris, responded and started tracking Curley in the desert area.
Officials believe Harris and fellow deputies were ambushed. At least two shots were fired — one striking Harris from about 40 feet away and a second bullet coming close to another deputy 150 feet away.
Deputies returned fire, but they do not believe the gunman was hit. Officers continued tracking Curley, and gunfire was exchanged.
Officials Saturday said they have been checking into rumors that Curley planned the attack and might have been suicidal.
"The marshal's office has tracked down a lot of those rumors," Kane County Sheriff's deputy Alan Alldredge said. "They've talked to people about that. He might not have had a plan."
Jeremiah Johnson, 23, who said he's a longtime friend of Curley's, said it doesn't make sense that Curley planned an attack. Johnson described Curley as a quiet guy who got good grades in school and would spend time with friends out by a creek just east of town and build clubhouses.
Another former classmate, however, said he believes Curley broke into his house Wednesday night before the incident at the school and stole his AR-15, a semiautomatic rifle.
Andy Carman said Curley knew the rifle was in his house. Carman said his father-in-law had helped him place flour on the kitchen floor Wednesday to see if a snake was hanging around, and when they returned to his house about 8 p.m., tracks were on the flour leading straight to Carman's gun cabinet where the AR-15 was missing.
"That night, we saw cops around town armed with bulletproof vests, and then we heard the next day the janitor had been threatened," said Carman, 23.
Officials confirmed the burglary but said they weren't sure if that's how Curley obtained the high-powered rifle that police believe was used to shoot Harris.
Police say it's possible Curley left the Kanab-Fredonia area, and they confirmed that the U.S. Marshal's Office is assisting with investigations in other areas of northern Arizona where the suspect might have gone.
Throughout the search effort, in which at least 100 officers are on 12- to 14-hour patrols at any given time, officials said they have investigated reports that Curley may have spider holes and caches in the desert with food and water stored.
Officials Saturday said they had received a tip that someone had found a food cache in the desert outside of Fredonia. Officers were investigating the cache Saturday but were not able to confirm by press time if they had found any indications Curley was using it.
Carman, who said he's known Curley since kindergarten, said he remembers how in junior high, he and Curley used to wander past the residential area into the desert and also play by Kanab Creek in their spare time.
But he also wonders whether Curley grew resentful recently after several years of being picked on in school.
"I think he's still hurt by it," Carman said. "But that was years ago. He started getting into alcohol and drugs in high school. He's been different lately. I hope he'll give up and come back."
Police received one tip Friday morning of a possible sighting of Curley from a woman who lives on the east side of Kanab, but officers have not been able to track him.
A second tip was called in about 10 p.m. Friday about a suspicious person peering through the informant's windows, but officials said they're not sure if it was Curley.
"We're still investigating and re-interviewing the person," Driscoll said.
Despite searchers' dedication to catching the suspect, Gonzales said they would eventually have to scale back efforts.
"But make no mistake about it: This is not leaving the front burner," he said. "This will be priority one until Mr. Curley goes to jail."
e-mail: lgroves@desnews.com