Suspect in Quartzsite shooting committed suicide, police say

Gregory Allen "Groundhog" Cole, who was suspected of shooting a Quartzsite police officer, has been found dead off Highway 95 near milepost 114 by Arizona Department of Public Safety officers.

"He is dead. He has taken his own life," wrote DPS spokesman Tim Mason in an e-mail to The Sun Wednesday.

According to previous releases, officers said that "Cole has stated he will not be taken alive."

On May 17, Officer James Kemp of the Quartzsite Marshals Office was conducting a traffic stop on a 1976 Ford motor home at approximately 5 a.m.

As Kemp exited his patrol car, 45-year-old Cole allegedly fired several rounds from the motor home, according to DPS. Kemp was shot and wounded.

Cole allegedly fled the scene in the motor home. Investigators later found it abandoned at the La Posa Campground parking lot near Quartzsite.

Investigators learned the license plate on the motor home was registered to a black and silver 1986 Dodge pickup owned by Kenneth Miller and Betty Lou Japel of McMinnville, Ore. The couple still have not been located.

Several days later, DPS located the 1986 Dodge in Montana and the couple's motor home in Oregon. Police are unsure how long the truck has been in Montana and how it got there, the release said.

According to DPS, it is unknown where Miller and Japel are, but investigators are concerned for their safety.

DPS found two photographs showing Cole spent time with the couple. The photos show a smiling Cole with the Oregon couple in what appears to be a recreational vehicle park.

Cole was "considered an extremist or constitutionalist," and didn't believe in government or law enforcement, according to a previous notice from the Quartzsite Police Department. He had a felony arrest warrant on a weapons violation from the U.S. Marshals Service, two misdemeanor weapons misconduct warrants from Tucson and a felony larceny warrant from California.

Kemp was transported by helicopter to St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, where he was treated for multiple gunshot wounds to his arms and hands. He is expected to make a full recovery.

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Nicole Squibbs can be reached at nsquibbs@yumasun.com or 539-6855.