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A driver fatally shot himself following a brief chase with a Benton County sheriff's deputy. Rogers Police Department spokesman Keith Foster said that the deputy approached the driver, who was parked at a Kum & Go gas station in Rogers, Arkansas, around 2 a.m. on Tuesday (January 9) morning.
The driver quickly backed out of the space, striking the deputy's patrol car, and sped away. The deputy jumped into his car and followed the driver, who crashed less than a quarter-mile from the gas station.
The 39-year-old driver then got out of his vehicle armed with a handgun. As deputies approached the crash scene, the driver fatally shot himself.
Officials have not identified the man and are trying to locate his next of kin.
Foster did not say why the deputy approached the driver in the Kum & Go parking lot. He referred questions about the stop to the Benton County Sheriff's Office, which has not commented on the investigation.
Foster also said that a different police car was involved in a minor crash with another vehicle near the scene. There were no injuries reported in that crash.