A man having coffee in the yard near the home he was building was killed and dragged away by an adult black bear, officials said, in a rare attack. Steven Jackson, 66, of Tucson, was on his property in the Groom Creek area south of Prescott. That is about 100 miles northwest of Phoenix and southwest of Flagstaff.

A neighbor shot and killed the bear after attempting to scare it from the body, which it was feeding on, officials said. The bear had dragged Jackson about 75 feet from the attack site. Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Arizona Game and Fish Department officials found the man dead when they arrived after 911 calls. A necropsy of the adult male bear revealed it did not have rabies. “Our hearts go out to Mr. Jackson’s family over [this] tragic incident,” said Todd Geiler of Prescott, a member of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. “This was an especially aggressive, unprovoked attack that reminds us that wildlife can be unpredictable. On behalf of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, and the entire staff of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, we offer our sincere condolences during this difficult time.” Arizona officials know of 15 bear attacks on people in the state since 1990. This is the second fatal bear attack in Arizona since then, which is as far back as the department’s database tracks. The first fatality occurred in 2011 in Pinetop. The incident remains under investigation.

“It sounds like this would have been a predatory attack,” said John Trierweiler, public information officer for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Black bears are the only bears found in Arizona. They range there from the U.S.-Mexico border northwest through the state through forested habitat.