Gold Canyon man in custody after SWAT confrontation

At about 12:49 p.m. Saturday, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office responded to reports of a man firing his handgun outside of a residence in the 9800 block of E. Stone Circle Lane in Gold Canyon, which is about 40 miles east of metro Phoenix area. 

When deputies arrived, the residence was engulfed in flames, the sheriff's office said in a news release. 

Witnesses told deputies that they saw a man, later identified by the sheriff's office as 47-year-old Kent Johnson, leaving the scene in a silver SUV, which deputies later found parked on state land to the east of the home. 

The man was reportedly armed with two handguns and at least one rifle, the sheriff's office said. He allegedly threatened "suicide-by-cop." 

Apache Junction police and Pinal County SWAT teams responded to the incident. The man did not cooperate, and officers used less-than-lethal force to take him into custody after nearly an hour of negotiating. 

The man sustained minor injuries and was taken to the hospital for medical treatment. Fire crews cleared the blazing residence. No one was believed to have been inside the home during the fire. 

The investigation is ongoing.