Cochise County sheriff details regional SWAT response, long-running fugitive arrest and multiple local rescue and safety incidents

Sheriff Mark Daniels told KWCD radio’s First Watch on Sept. 20 that a regional SWAT team arrested an armed suspect after a multi‑hour standoff in the Hereford/Palominas area and that no one was hurt.

Daniels said the SWAT deployment — a regional effort that includes the Sierra Vista Police Department, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and other smaller agencies — required several hours of tactical work before officers took the suspect into custody. “Very fortunate nobody was hurt in that situation,” Daniels said.

The sheriff also described the long‑running search for a military defendant, identifying him by name as Captain Chris Wilkerson. Daniels said U.S. Marshals arrested Wilkerson in Illinois after he had been missing for years while wanted on charges related to a military court case. “We spent a lot of resources trying to find this guy,” Daniels said, adding investigators located his vehicle and used phone pings and aerial surveillance during the search. Wilkerson was taken into custody in Illinois and, according to Daniels, will be returned to the county.

Separately, deputies responded to a rescue at the Bisbee pit after a man who had trespassed into the pit fell and called for help. Daniels said deputies cited the man for criminal trespass and that a helicopter hoisted the injured person out of the pit. “The helicopter had to get him out of there,” he said.

Daniels also warned listeners about phone‑scam impersonations that use names and recorded voices of local employees. He described a report from Wilcox in which a caller said someone opened a bank account in the victim’s name and took out a loan. “Somebody’s using deputy Grady Butler to try to get money out of you. It’s not him,” Daniels said, urging residents to hang up if solicitors ask for money.

On traffic safety, Daniels described a fatal crash in the Pierce area that killed an 80‑year‑old man. Daniels said investigators told him the driver was not wearing a seat belt and “did not believe he had to stop for stop signs,” which the sheriff characterized as a contributing factor to the collision. He urged drivers to obey stop signs and use seat belts.

Daniels also reviewed ongoing enforcement efforts on county roads, citing recent activity to change driving behavior: “We’ve made 345 traffic stops or 85 citations just trying to change behavior,” he said. He framed enforcement as a public‑safety effort and urged residents to slow down.

The sheriff closed by noting the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page recently reached about 50,000 followers and used the platform to share safety information and scam alerts.

Public‑safety officials on the show emphasized the limits of local authority where appropriate and framed the incidents as active law‑enforcement matters handled through standard processes.