FLORENCE, Ariz. — Two "exhausted" men have reportedly turned themselves over to law enforcement after a Florence burglary and officer shooting launched a police manhunt on Wednesday, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Dispatch received a 911 call from one of the suspects after they spent a day and night on the run in the desert, the sheriff's office said. The men, identified as 61-year-old Michael Anthony and 33-year-old Phillip Rice, told the dispatcher that they were injured, without water and ready to turn themselves in.
The two men were reportedly located by deputies several miles south of the original burglary call.
"That was unique. When that call came in this morning, we were actually kind of surprised and thinking, is this actually real? Is this really them? But, I really don't think in my career I've heard of a suspect, calling 911, that we're actively chasing say yeah I want to turn myself in. So that was a first," said Matthew Thomas, Chief Deputy, Pinal County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies responded to the scene when the burglary was still in progress on Desert Hills Road south of Florence at around 3 a.m. The suspects were reportedly attempting to leave the scene in a car when deputies arrived.
One of the deputies fired his gun at the two suspects after the suspects rammed into the deputies' responding vehicles, the sheriff's office said. The suspects then fled the area on foot.
Both men will get medical care as they were found "very dehydrated, full of cholla cactus, and exhausted from being pursued," deputies said. Anthony also had two gunshot wounds from the police shooting: one in the shoulder and one that grazed his face.
"When we arrived on the scene, they did exactly what we instructed them to do. Again, it was obvious that they had a rough night. They were dealing with exposure and fatigue issues. There are a lot of cholla cacti out there, so they had cholla issues, and if you're from Arizona, you know exactly how that feels. And one of them was suffering two gunshot wounds, so I think it was a good thing for them to give up," said Thomas.
The men will be booked into Pinal County Jail after being treated.
This is a developing story. Tune in to 12News for the latest information.
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