TUSAYAN, Arizona – A 44-year-old Ste. Genevieve County man faces multiple charges in connection with a series of incidents in and around Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
According to a news release from the Coconino County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Office, Kaspar Ahrens was arrested and booked into the Coconino County Jail for seven counts of felony endangerment, seven counts of threatening and intimidating, four counts of kidnapping, criminal damage, and one count of unlawful imprisonment.
Ahrens was being held on $75,000 cash bond.
Ste. Genevieve County authorities says Ahrens is familiar to them.
“He has a long rap sheet here,” Chief Deputy Jason Schott of the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office. He said Ahrens reside in the Gray Hawk subdivision. Deputy Schott said Arizona authorities had contacted the Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff’s Office concerning Ahrens.
The Coconino Sheriff’s Office released this narrative of the series of incidents Ahrens is alleged to have been involved in.
“On March 18, 2022, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office Deputies received a call for service requesting a welfare check on a family from Missouri. It was later found that this family had also been involved with a hit and run at the Grand Canyon Airport as well as a gate blocking access to the Supai Reservation.
“The caller requesting the welfare check, also from Missouri, stated her boyfriend was in the area of Grand Canyon and the Supai Reservation and had called her reporting that his father was holding him and the rest of their family, to include an infant, against their will with a firearm. The deputy receiving the call for service recognized this to potentially be the same group that had been involved in a hit and run incident earlier in the day at the Grand Canyon Airport. The report at the Grand Canyon Airport was that a white truck had rammed through the gate going onto the tarmac and then left the scene.
“Deputies, Park Rangers with the National Park Service, and members of the Northern Arizona Tactical Team conducted an extensive search of Tusayan and the Grand Canyon National Park on the evening of the 18th but could not locate the family or the vehicles associated with the family.
“At approximately 10:00 AM on March 19th, CCSO received a call from the Supai Rangers stating a white truck had rammed a gate along the reservation line at the end of Forest Road 328, approximately 21 miles west of Tusayan. The description matched the vehicle involved in the earlier incidents. There was a Jeep with the truck as well. After crashing through the gate, the vehicles continued west onto the Supai Reservation and stopped in an area a few miles from the reservation line. The Supai Rangers were able to maintain visual contact with the vehicles while a response was coordinated.
“Officers from CCSO, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), National Park Service (NPS), Flagstaff Police Department, and the Northern Arizona Tactical Team responded to the area. Shortly thereafter, information was received from the Supai Rangers that the male subject had walked a considerable distance from the rest of the party and that the rest of the party had left toward Tusayan in both the vehicles. Upon receiving this information, resources were deployed via helicopter and patrol vehicle to the area.
“The suspect was taken into custody without incident by the officers transported by helicopter. The family was contacted by officers along Forest Road 328. There were no injuries sustained by any parties.