CLOUDCROFT, N.M. (AP) - State police confirmed Thursday that a man fatally shot by an Otero County sheriff's deputy was fugitive Kurt Sohrbeck.

State police initially said Sohrbeck, who was wanted in the wounding of a Lincoln County sheriff's deputy, was unarmed Wednesday when he was shot by Sgt. Sean Jett. On Thursday, Peter Olson, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said a folding box cutter was found in Sohrbeck's pocket.

"So far indications are this is the pocket that he refused to take his hands out of," Olson said.

Sohrbeck was also wanted in Washington state.

The man had failed to obey direct orders from Jett, who characterized Sohrbeck's behavior as aggressive and threatening, state police said.

State police originally said there had been an exchange of gunfire between Sohrbeck and Jett.

Authorities have described Sohrbeck as a career criminal and con artist with a record in 11 states, including pending charges for assault and eluding police in Whatcom County, Wash. He also was wanted by Washington state authorities in several cases of identity theft.

Jett has been placed on paid leave pending the completion of the state police investigation, said Otero County Sheriff John Blansett.

Jett was responding to a possible sighting of Sohrbeck on N.M. 244 around 1 p.m. Wednesday when the man reached into a bag for something and then rushed the deputy before being shot, saying he "was not going to be taken," Blansett said.

"He refused to cooperate other than getting off his bicycle," Blansett said. "He refused other commands made by the deputy."

Sohrbeck was charged with attempted murder, aggravated fleeing from law enforcement, being a felon in possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence in the March 13 shooting of Sgt. Robert Shepperd.

Shepperd was shot in the head, upper chest and left arm after pursuing Sohrbeck through the back roads of Ruidoso Downs.

He remained hospitalized in stable condition in El Paso, Texas.

State police found the truck Sohrbeck was driving near a canyon in Lincoln County last week, but the search was scaled back after authorities found no trace of him.