Arizona teenager saved by brother after black bear attack
A teenage boy was saved by his brother after a black bear barged into his cabin and left him with scratches across his face and arm – with the animal having a sit down on a sofa on the family’s porch after the attack.
Brigham Hawkins, 15, was “just chilling” in one of two cabins on his family’s property in Alpine, Arizona, when the bear “walked in through the front door and swiped him across the head” on Thursday evening, his mother Carol said.
Ms Hawkins told Sky News’ US partner NBC News that Brigham has a “neurological disorder” and she believes he would have been killed if her other son Parker, 18, had not intervened.
The mother said: “The front door was open to let the cool night air in.
“Brigham was watching YouTube and didn’t realise what was happening.”
Ms Hawkin said her son “started screaming” during the attack, adding: “[The bear] got him on the nose and the cheek and then went ahead and got his forehead and the top of his head.”
Parker ran over from the other cabin in the family’s garden after hearing the screams, Ms Hawkins said.
She continued: “Parker at first thought it was a big dog of some kind.
“Then the bear saw Parker and began to chase him. That gave Brigham time to slam the door shut in his cabin.”
Ms Hawkins added that Parker then managed to make it back to the other cabin as the bear followed him.
She continued: “[The bear] was just pacing there for a while as we watched him through the window.
“Then he sat down on a couch on the porch and just looked around. It was insane.”
Ms Hawkins said that while she dialled 911 and called a neighbour for help, her husband Shane waited for the bear to look away before darting to the cabin where Brigham was holed-up.
“He slammed the door in the bear’s face,” she said.
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The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), whose agents arrived at the scene, said at one stage during the family’s ordeal the bear entered Brigham’s cabin a second time before “swiping at the victim’s arm”.
However, the bear was no longer besieging the cabins by the time the AZGFD agents arrived.
“After arriving on scene, AZGFD wildlife officers were able to quickly locate and dispatch the bear,” the agency said in a statement.
The bear was a male estimated to be three years old and his carcass will be tested for diseases, the AZGFD said.
Ms Hawkins said her son is “doing better” and has already received a round of rabies shots as a precaution.
Reflecting on why the bear may have attacked, she said: “He may have just been hungry… but that’s just not a normal way for a bear to behave.”
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Ms Hawkins continued: “[Brigham] has a neurological disorder and would not have been able to get away from the bear.
“It took a few miracles happening at the same time to save him.”
She added: “This really could have been a lot worse.
“We’re still in disbelief that this happened, but we’re also feeling very blessed.”
There have been 16 bear attacks on people in Arizona since 1990 – with two of them having been fatal, according to the AZGFD.
The most recent fatality occurred when a 66-year-old man was killed while drinking a cup of coffee in the woods in Prescott last year.
Police officers found a handgun, a silencer and a red notebook described as a “manifesto” when they arrested Luigi Mangione.
The 27-year-old was arrested in December 2024 and charged with killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in New York City.
Mangione‘s lawyers want to block prosecutors from showing or telling jurors at his eventual trial in Manhattan about statements he allegedly made and items they said police seized from his backpack during his arrest at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
The objects include a 9mm handgun prosecutors say matches the one used in the killing, a silencer, a magazine with bullets wrapped in underwear and a notebook in which they say Mangione described his intent to “wack” a healthcare executive.
Mangione with his attorney. Pic: Reuters
The defence contends the items should be excluded because police did not get a warrant before searching Mangione’s backpack.
Prosecutors deny claims Mangione was illegally searched and questioned.
They also want to suppress some statements he made to police, such as allegedly giving a false name, because officers asked him questions before telling him he had a right to remain silent.
Last week, Mangione watched surveillance videos of the killing of Mr Thompson, 50, as he walked to a New York City hotel for his company’s annual investor conference.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges.
The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison, while federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
This week’s hearing concerns only the state case, but Mangione’s lawyers want to bar evidence from both cases.
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In September, a judge dismissed two terrorism counts against Mangione, finding prosecutors had not presented enough evidence Mangione intended to intimidate health insurance workers or influence government policy.
Trial dates are yet to be set in either the state or federal cases.
Paramount has launched a £108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros, challenging Netflix, which had reached a $72bn takeover deal with the company.
Paramount said on Monday that it was going straight to Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) shareholders with a $30 per share in cash offer for the entirety of the company, including its Global Networks segment, asking them to reject the deal with Netflix.
On Friday Netflix struck a deal to buy WBD, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max
The agreement means Warner Bros Discovery’s library of film and TV successes including Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones will come under the same roof as Stranger Things and Squid Game.
The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.
But Paramount says its deal will pay $30 cash per share, representing $18 billion more in cash than its rivals are offering.
In a statement, Paramount said it was making a “strategically and financially compelling offer to WBD shareholders” and a “superior alternative to the Netflix transaction”.
File pic: iStock
David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, said: “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company.
“Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.
“We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process.
“We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to WBD in the course of 12 weeks, but that they were never “meaningfully” engaged with.
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