Ronald Lee McKinnon was detained in Golden Valley after a search that began with the wounding of a 70-year-old Dolan Springs man.
GOLDEN VALLEY, Ariz. — Detectives closing in on a man wanted in a Dolan Springs shooting found him at a Golden Valley property four days later, and while they were processing the arrest they received another critical development: 70-year-old Willard Eugene Belt Jr., the wounded man whose statement had guided their investigation, had died at a Las Vegas hospital.
The timing turned what had been announced publicly as an attempted-homicide investigation into a homicide case. Ronald Lee McKinnon, 35, was booked on allegations that included homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assaults and weapons misconduct, according to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators said the charges encompass two separate confrontations in Dolan Springs on consecutive days. One allegedly involved shots fired toward residents without injury. The second left Belt mortally wounded. The publicly available reports reviewed for this story do not establish that McKinnon has been convicted of any offense or provide a final disposition of the case.
McKinnon’s capture followed a search that had grown increasingly public. By July 15, the sheriff’s office had identified him as wanted on an attempted-homicide warrant and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. Authorities distributed his description and sought information from the public while detectives worked through a different route, contacting associates and conducting surveillance. Their attention eventually turned to a gray Chrysler convertible that investigators said had been used after an earlier shooting allegation. The vehicle was found at a residence on South Verde Road in Golden Valley, about 30 miles south of Dolan Springs, according to local reporting citing the sheriff’s office.
Investigators established a perimeter around the Golden Valley residence July 16. McKinnon, 60-year-old Angela Nanette Baker and two other people came outside and were detained without incident, authorities said. Baker and 45-year-old John Allen Carlton were later jailed on suspicion of hindering prosecution. Public accounts have not specified the conduct underlying those allegations, and neither was publicly accused in the reports reviewed of firing the shots that killed Belt. Authorities did not identify the fourth detained person as facing charges. The arrests gave detectives the opportunity to execute further investigative work as the case was changing from an effort to locate a fugitive into a broader homicide inquiry.
The Chrysler mattered because investigators said McKinnon and Baker had left another Dolan Springs property in such a vehicle after a confrontation on July 11. At a residence in the 15000 block of Jasper Drive, McKinnon allegedly argued with another resident before getting a .22-caliber rifle from his vehicle. The sheriff’s office said he fired at least one round into a vehicle on the property and then pointed the rifle toward residents and fired at least two more rounds. Investigators said the weapon malfunctioned. No one was struck. Surveillance video from the property supported the account of that incident, according to authorities.
Investigators later said evidence indicated that a .22-caliber weapon was also involved in Belt’s shooting. That did not amount, in the information made public, to a completed forensic finding that one particular rifle fired every shot in both incidents. It did, however, give detectives a potential connection between two violent episodes separated by roughly a day and occurring in the same community. Authorities have not released a full laboratory report, identified all recovered firearms or described every item collected under search warrants. The evidence publicly discussed therefore provides an investigative link while leaving the ultimate proof of the state’s allegations for the court process.
The fatal encounter came early the next morning. At about 5:25 a.m. July 12, a 911 call reached dispatchers from the area of the 10000 block of Earls Road in Dolan Springs. The sheriff’s office said an argument could be heard in the background before the connection was lost. Deputies responding to the property found Belt with multiple gunshot wounds. He was unresponsive and in need of emergency care. Belt was flown across the state line to a Las Vegas hospital for surgery while detectives secured the Arizona property, obtained a search warrant and began collecting evidence.
For investigators, a crucial development came after Belt survived the initial emergency. Detectives interviewed him at the hospital the following day. According to the sheriff’s office, Belt said McKinnon had come to his residence and the two became involved in a verbal dispute over property. Belt said McKinnon told him he was “going to have to kill him” and then fired a weapon, striking him multiple times. The sheriff’s office has not publicly explained what the disputed property was, who owned it or whether the disagreement had existed before that morning. Belt’s account is a statement attributed to the victim by investigators and remains part of an allegation that must be tested through the legal process.
That interview gave detectives a named suspect while Belt remained hospitalized. The investigation then developed on two tracks: gathering evidence from the shooting scene and trying to find McKinnon. Authorities contacted people associated with him and watched locations connected to those associates. The sheriff’s office also sought public assistance and said Mohave Silent Witness was offering a reward for information leading to an arrest. Before officials publicly disclosed the details of Belt’s accusation, local reports identified McKinnon as wanted in connection with an attempted homicide in Dolan Springs. His eventual arrest came before the public learned the fuller account of what investigators believed had happened.
Belt’s death raised the stakes after that arrest had already been set in motion. Authorities said detectives learned during the Golden Valley operation that he had succumbed to the injuries sustained in the July 12 shooting. McKinnon was then booked on suspicion of homicide along with attempted homicide, two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and misconduct involving weapons. Some of those allegations are tied to the earlier Jasper Drive incident, authorities said. The sheriff’s office has not publicly released a charging document in the reports reviewed here that would spell out how prosecutors intend to assign each count to each alleged act.
The investigation also contains evidence gaps that remain visible from the public record. Officials have not released the complete 911 audio, so it is unclear from published accounts exactly what dispatchers heard beyond an argument before the disconnect. Authorities have not said who made the call or whether the caller remained at the scene. They have not described a motive beyond Belt’s statement that the men were arguing over property. Nor have they released a complete forensic comparison of ammunition, cartridge cases or firearms from the two scenes. Those unanswered questions do not erase the allegations, but they limit what can be stated as established fact outside court.
The most recent reports reviewed continue to describe the sheriff’s investigation as ongoing and do not provide a later verdict or other final resolution. McKinnon’s arrest ended the immediate search that had prompted warnings to the public, but it did not settle the criminal allegations against him. Baker and Carlton likewise face accusations of hindering prosecution rather than findings of guilt. The case now rests on evidence that includes Belt’s statement before his death, the initial 911 call, material collected at the shooting scene, surveillance from the separate confrontation and whatever additional evidence investigators obtained after locating McKinnon in Golden Valley.
Author note: Last updated Aug. 23, 2026.