Officials are still looking for a sex offender who was the subject of a barricade situation in Florence.
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said the barricade situation took place in a neighborhood near Hunt Highway and Hiller Road on Tuesday morning.
According to PCSO, deputies responded to the home at the request of Mesa police to check the welfare of a woman inside. The woman's son received a text from his home in Mesa that her boyfriend was threatening her.
When deputies arrived on the scene, the woman exited the house with two children under the age of 12. She told deputies that her boyfriend was inside and was threatening her with a handgun, and had reportedly told her he was going to kill deputies.
PCSO said the suspect is a registered sex offender and is wanted for previous violation of sex offender laws.
The house was cleared by law enforcement officials and officers with K-9s were dispatched to search the surrounding area. A suspect was seen running into a park near a school in the Copper Basin neighborhood, prompting a short precautionary lockdown.
Around 10:30 a.m., a neighbor in Copper Basin said her pickup truck was stolen by someone matching the suspect description.
PCSO has since identified the suspect as 49-year-old John R. Bowman. He is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call 911.
Bowman was last seen driving a silver 2008 Chevrolet pickup truck with black rims and Arizona plates reading “370ZZY”. The truck has a skull sticker on the back window and was last spotted headed northbound on Gantzel Road.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the suspect or truck should call 911.
