Officials: 3 suspects arrested following train heist, 3 others on the run

SELIGMAN, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) — Police in Arizona said three people are in custody after they reportedly stole from a train before being tracked down by law enforcement agencies.

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said workers on a BNSF train near Seligman, which is located 70 miles west of Flagstaff, called 911 before midnight on Friday. The workers told officials they were being burglarized by people in a white box truck.

A deputy arrived while the burglary was still in progress.

The truck driver and another driver of a different vehicle headed west on Interstate 40, with the deputy following them, the sheriff’s office said.

The deputy then waited for backup from multiple agencies.

Officials said the deputy continued to follow the suspects for miles before authorities attempted to pull the box truck over in Kingman, located about 67 miles west of Seligman. However, the driver did not stop.

Officials said they used spike strips twice to get the truck driver to stop. They said the driver crossed the median before going into oncoming traffic.

A trooper then used a PIT maneuver, which stopped the truck.

The driver attempted to run off but was quickly arrested, the sheriff’s office said.

Another vehicle involved in the heist was chased for “a number of miles” until five people bailed out and ran into the desert, officials said.

Two of those suspects were arrested. Authorities said three of the six total suspects are still on the run.

Officials have not released any names of the suspects, and it is unclear what was taken from the train.

The investigation is ongoing.

The sheriff’s office said the number of train heists has “skyrocketed” in the country over the past year and estimates millions of dollars in goods have been stolen as a result.

“It seems like this is trending now. It’s becoming more often and I think it’s obviously a huge problem,” Arizona state legislative director for SMART Transportation Division Scott Jones said.

In the second quarter of this year, cargonet.com says there were 771 reported incidents of theft from a train across the country, a 33% increase from the same time period in 2023.

Jones believes that part of the reason for the spike in train thefts is a reduction in railroad police officers and an increase in train length.

“It’s just going to get worse until they do hire more police officers, I believe, shorten these trains up where they can control them in and out of their yards and not park them out in the middle of the desert,” Jones said.

A spokesperson for BNSF, the company that owns the train that was victim to the burglary over the weekend, said they have more train crews now than they did at this point last year.