An Arizona man was fatally attacked while having his morning coffee on Friday by a male black bear, who unknowingly dragged him onto an embankment where he was shot dead by a neighbor.

A preliminary investigation by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office found that Tucson resident Stephen Jackson, 66, was sitting at a table on the grounds of his home under construction in the Groom Creek neighborhood south of Prescott. The department issued a statement.

Officials said the bear attacked Jackson and dragged him about 75 feet over the embankment.

“Neighbors who heard the victim’s screams tried to intervene with screams and car horns, but the bear would not let go until one of the neighbors retrieved a rifle, shot the bear, and forced him to leave. ‘ said the statement. .

Jackson was dead when officials arrived.

Officials with the sheriff’s office and the Arizona Game and Fish Service said the attack was “extremely unusual” but “appeared to be of a predatory nature,” adding that nothing at the scene would likely provoke a bear attack. He added that there didn’t seem to be any. such as access to food and water.

The attack site was not near recreational facilities for camping.

The sheriff’s office said it would investigate the fatality, and the Game and Fish Service said it would examine the bear’s carcass for signs of disease.

Todd Giler, member of the State Game and Fish Commission, said: said in a statement It said the attack was “particularly aggressive, gratuitous and a reminder that wild animals are unpredictable.”

Bear attacks are still very rare, and fatal attacks even rarer.

The agency said there have been 15 bear attacks on people in Arizona since 1990, two of which were fatal, including Friday’s attack. The last fatal attack occurred in 2011.

A biologist named Spencer Peter North American Bear Center Researchers in Ely, Minnesota, said that while black bears are generally “very timid and shy,” they “have some outliers.”

“Some bears are naturally more aggressive and bold and attack humans very rarely, but it does happen,” he said, adding that it tends to occur in remote areas where bears are unaccustomed to humans. rice field.

According to Peter, 90 percent of a bear’s diet is plants, and the remaining 10 percent is mostly insects. But sometimes they ask for meat.

“Depending on where you are in the United States and what’s available, it’s usually the easiest way for bears to target,” he says. The attack on Jackson “may have been food motivated, but it’s hard to say for sure.”

Peter advised anyone living in bear country or hiking to keep bear spray or pepper spray on hand at all times.