Man killed by bear in Groom Creek area yesterday! (Tucson: new home, live)

[Woody01]

Apparently he was sitting enjoying his morning coffee, at his new home-build site, when he was attacked by a male brown bear. He was mauled badly and did not survive, but his screams alerted a neighbor, who shot the bear with his rifle and killed it.

That area is really pretty up in the pines, but be careful out there. This was the first attack in 30 yrs but ya never know.....

[AZ Desert Guy]

I saw those reports also.

Do you live near that area?

Guy was building a cabin, a 66 year old retiree from Tucson, and was simply sitting outside and having coffee at 07:30 to start his day when the bear attacked him in an ambush. He was doing nothing to antagonize the bear from what I have seen, wildlife pros called it a predatory type attack, but it is not clear if it was actually witnessed. The bear dragged the poor guy about 75 yards, a neighbor responded and shot the bear, but the poor guy was too badly mauled to make it.

Others that had hiked the area the day prior had found a partially eaten deer carcass near the scene, and someone had also filmed a bear nearby a few days prior that matched the description (male, 6-10 years old) of the dispatched bear.

That poor guy. A bad way to go, and now local folks will certainly be more fearful of wildlife despite the rarity of these events. The city has dispatched several mountain lions recently also that were predating pets in Prescott proper which will feed into the fear of the animals we live near here.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Woody01

Apparently he was sitting enjoying his morning coffee, at his new home-build site, when he was attacked by a male brown bear. He was mauled badly and did not survive, but his screams alerted a neighbor, who shot the bear with his rifle and killed it.

That area is really pretty up in the pines, but be careful out there. This was the first attack in 30 yrs but ya never know.....

Black bear. Horrible story.