Weekend wrap-up: Here are the biggest Arizona stories from Oct. 11-13
Oct 13, 2019, 5:57 PM
(Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Photo)
(Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Photo)
A drug bust in Tonopah, a surprise announcement from a longtime Fox News anchor and the arrest of a San Diego Padres pitcher.
Here are some stories that headlined the news cycle, both locally and nationally, over the weekend.
MCSO seizes over 200 pounds of marijuana in Tonopah drug operation
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office seized over 200 pounds of marijuana in Tonopah on Thursday.
According a press release on Friday, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Task Force served a search warrant after detectives received information that two suspects were illegally growing and selling marijuana, which violates the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.
Inside, the task force found that the suspects had eight rooms designed to grow marijuana. Six of those rooms were in operation when the search was executed.
Anchor Shepard Smith leaves Fox News in surprise announcement
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, who had been with the cable network since it debuted, signed off for the final time Friday with a surprise farewell announcement.
Smith, 55, had anchored the weekday “Shepard Smith Reporting” newscast since 2013. He also was the network’s chief news anchor and managing editor for breaking news.
Fox News said it will rotate anchors into Smith’s 3 p.m. ET time slot and change the show’s name to “Fox News Reporting.”
Smith joined the network for its launch in 1996 and developed a reputation as straightforward newsman who didn’t hesitate to stray from the conservative viewpoints espoused by the channel’s evening opinion show hosts.
Padres pitcher accused of breaking into Peoria home through doggy door
San Diego Padres pitcher Jacob Nix was kicked in the face and shocked with a stun gun after a Peoria homeowner found him trespassing Sunday, according to police.
Nix, 23, allegedly tried using a doggy door to enter the home near 91st Avenue and Beardsley Road around 3:30 a.m.
Police said the homeowner confronted Nix and kicked him in the face before another man — 23-year-old Padres minor league pitcher Thomas Cosgrove — pulled him out of the home.
As the two trespassers fled, the homeowner deployed his Taser and hit Nix in the back, authorities said.
1 suspect dead after Glendale officers respond to shots fired at illegal party
A suspect died and an officer suffered minor injuries early Sunday morning following an illegal party near an industrial district in Glendale, authorities said.
Officers responded to a shots fired call at a party near 68th and Northern avenues at about 2:45 a.m. and upon arrival, witnessed about 200 people fleeing, Glendale Officer Tiffany Ngalula said in an email.
Multiple suspects were shooting into the crowd, Ngalula said, and an officer returned fire and killed one of the suspects in possession of a firearm.
The officer fired his weapon four times at the suspect, a 17-year-old male, according to Ngalula.
Southbound Interstate 17 in Phoenix closed after dump truck wreck
Southbound Interstate 17 in Phoenix was shut down for several hours on Friday afternoon because of a wreck, authorities said.
All traffic was being forced to exit at Northern Avenue and could then re-enter the freeway a mile later at Glendale Avenue, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.
The accident, which occurred just after 3 p.m., involved a dump truck hauling a trailer with equipment rolled over and sprawled across all four lanes just beyond the Glendale exit, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Nobody was injured but there was a fuel spill, DPS said.
