Trooper and pilot mourned after being killed in an Arizona law enforcement helicopter crash

Arizona law enforcement officers mourned a veteran U.S. Marine pilot and a trooper paramedic Friday while the cause of a helicopter crash that killed them during a police shootout with a domestic violence suspect in Flagstaff remained under investigation.

The suspect, whose identity has not been released, fired on officers from multiple rooftops in Flagstaff over almost two hours Wednesday night. He was captured at about the same time as the helicopter crash.

The helicopter crew had been playing a common role, helping officers on the ground, Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Col. Jeffrey Glover said.

“They have the ability of getting eyes and ears up top,” he said. “They have a very important role when they are running their missions.”

What caused the helicopter to crash was “under active investigation” by agencies including the National Transportation Safety Board, Glover said.

No one on the helicopter had opened fire, Glover said. The Bell 407 helicopter was “functioning just fine” when it was most recently inspected on Jan. 29, Glover said.

Glover declined to say more about possible causes, such as whether gunfire or a drone may have struck it.

“It would be just really irresponsible for us to speculate at this time. We have to allow for NTSB to conduct their investigation to figure out exactly what has occurred,” Glover said.

Trooper Hunter Bennett, 28, and pilot Robert Skankey, 61, were killed.

The confrontation began when law enforcement officers responded to a domestic violence call, Flagstaff Police Chief Sean Connolly said Thursday.

As the officers spoke with the victim in the front yard, the suspect opened fire on them from the back of the residence with a semiautomatic long rifle.

A protracted gunbattle ensued, with the unidentified suspect “hopping from roof to roof” in the neighborhood while shooting at officers. The police chief described the neighborhood as “under siege” while the suspect shot on officers and into homes.

The suspect was taken to a hospital with nonfatal gunshot wounds.

Connolly indicated three Flagstaff police officers and one Department of Public Safety employee fired their weapons during the altercation.

Skankey was a longtime resident of Kingman, Arizona, city officials said in a statement. He had been hired by the Arizona Department of Public Safety in May 2021 and previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was married and had four children, Glover said.

Bennett was an honors graduate of Arizona State University and the top graduate of his 2023 Arizona Law Enforcement Academy class. He transferred to an air rescue unit in 2024 and months later married his high school sweetheart officials said.

The spelling of the pilot’s last name has been corrected from Skanky to Skankey, based on new information from authorities.

This photo combo shows from left, trooper Hunter R. Bennett and pilot Robert Bruce Skankey,. (Arizona Department Of Public Safety via AP)

In this grab taken from video, emergency cervices work at a scene of Police Helicopter Crash in Flagstaff, Arizona, the night from Feb. 4 to 5, 2026. (ABC15 Arizona via AP)

Law enforcement respond to aneighborhood in Flagstaff, Ariz. ,where police say a man opened fire on officers on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Cheyanne Mumphrey)

The blocked road to a neighborhood in Flagstaff, Arizona, where police say a man opened fire at officers is seen Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Cheyanne Mumphrey)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Oversight Committee on Friday requested records related to firms partially owned by the husband of Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, taking the extraordinary step of scrutinizing the spouse of a sitting House member.

Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, released a letter to Timothy Mynett, a former Democratic political consultant who is married to Omar, requesting records related to a pair of companies that had a substantial jump in value between 2023 and 2024, according to financial disclosures filed by the congresswoman.

Comer's request marked a highly unusual move by the chair of a committee with a history of taking on politically-charged investigations, but almost always focused on government officials outside of Congress. The House Ethics Committee, which is comprised of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans and tries to stay away from political fights, typically handles allegations involving lawmakers and their family members.

Yet since her 2018 election as one of the first Muslim women in the House, Omar has received nearly-nonstop attacks from the right. She has dismissed allegations around her finances as “misleading" and based on conspiracy theories.

A spokesperson for Omar, Jackie Rogers, said in a statement that Comer’s letter was “a political stunt” and part of a campaign “meant to fundraise, not real oversight.”

“This is an attempt to orchestrate a smear campaign against the congresswoman, and it is disgusting that our tax dollars are being used to malign her,” Rogers added.

Comer has also displayed a willingness to push the traditional parameters of the Oversight panel. In a separate investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, he is enforcing subpoenas for depositions from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, marking the first time a former president will be forced to appear before Congress.

In the letter to Mynett on Friday, Comer said, “There are serious public concerns about how your businesses increased so dramatically in value only a year after reporting very limited assets.”

There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Omar, but President Donald Trump also said last month that the Department of Justice is looking into her finances.

In response to the president, Omar said on social media that “your support is collapsing and you’re panicking,” adding that "Years of ‘investigations’ have found nothing.”

The scrutiny of Omar's finances comes from a required financial disclosure statement she filed in May last year. She reported then that two firms tied to her husband, a winery called eStCru and an investment firm called Rose Lake Capital, had risen in value by at least $5.9 million dollars. Lawmakers report assets within ranges of dollar figures, so it was not clear exactly how much the firms had risen in value or what ownership stake Mynett had in them.

Omar has also pointed out that her husband's reported income from the winery was between $5,000 and $15,000 and none from Rose Lake Capital.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., talks with reporters as he arrives for an early closed-door Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks during a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)