Woman kills self after short police chase in Tempe

A young woman shot and killed herself Friday after a short police chase in Tempe.

According to Lt. James Warriner, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, officers got a call from Mesa police to try and find a suicidal person at 3:10 a.m.

Warriner said a DPS officer spotted the car with the woman, who is about 24 years old, inside a car parked in front of a home near Elliot Road and Interstate 10.

The officer sat behind the woman while he waited for other officers to arrive, but she drove away.

She refused to stop for the officer and sped away before pulling into a parking space in front of a convenience store at Priest Drive and Warner Road.

“As the officer stepped out of the vehicle he heard a gunshot,” Warriner said.

Katie McDevitt, Tempe police spokeswoman, said Tempe police will investigate the suicide. Warriner said DPS will conduct an investigation of the officer’s actions, which is routine in significant incidents.

More information on the suspect in the Tempe stabbing death

A former South Dakota prosecutor has been arrested in connection with a killing in Tempe.

Dan Gukeisen was jailed after a 22-year-old Arizona State University student was stabbed to death Friday on a downtown Tempe street.

The 37-year-old Gukeisen has not been formally charged.

Gukeisen was a deputy state's attorney in Lawrence County for about three years, and he also served for a year as Davison County state's attorney.

He currently works as a bankruptcy attorney in Phoenix.

Tempe police say the victim, Garrett Hohn, got into an argument with Gukeisen and was stabbed.

Strange-looking fish caught in Tempe lake

Jose Chavez proudly holds his trophy catch.

I see fish like this on the Discovery Channel," he said.

But certainly not at Kiwanis Lake in Tempe.

Jose and his father fish there frequently. The night they caught what appears to be an alligator gar they had tried out a new kind of bait -- real chicken liver.

Little did they know what the new bait would attract.

"His pole was bending," Jose said. "His snout barely came out and I said, 'Oh shoot!'"

They knew right away it wasn't the usual catfish catch.

"Cuz I was about to put my hand in there and go get it and he said, 'No! Look at the teeth on that!'"

The gar kept snapping at them with razor sharp teeth so Jose decided to leave the hook in the gar's mouth.

"Weird looking. Looked like a snake. My dad thought it was a snake. He said, 'Damn, looks like a snake mixed with an alligator.'"

The odd catch is attracting a lot of attention -- and Arizona Game and Fish officials are interested.

Gars are prohibited in Arizona. They're not even allowed in tanks at home.

They're considered voracious predators.

Jose's father plans to bring the gar to Fish and Game officials who hope this is the only gar fishermen will bring in from the Tempe lake.