Sebastian County Deputy Bill Cooper, a 15-year veteran and former U.S. Marine, was pronounced dead at a local hospital Wednesday. A police dog was also struck by gunfire.
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Hollenbeck said Cooper was around age 65 and expected to retire soon.
An Arkansas sheriff’s deputy was killed and a police chief was injured during a Wednesday morning ambush-style shooting.
“On behalf of all Arkansans, I want to extend our heartfelt condolences to Deputy Cooper’s loved ones and our entire law enforcement community”. In a statement he released, he said, “Today’s shooting incident … tragically illustrates the dangers our law enforcement officers face each and every day to keep us safe”.
Billy Monroe Jones, 34, of Sebastian County was taken into custody shortly before noon Wednesday, according to the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office. Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said Jones waved a white towel out of a window, then walked outside with his hands up and got on the ground and laid down to be handcuffed.
Jones pinned down officers from multiple departments outside the house for hours and shot a police dog and a robot during the confrontation, Hollenbeck said.
“Jones wanted to cause what was told to us as a “ruckus” and he was due in court in Fort Smith regarding a petition to revoke a suspended sentence charge”.
A court record search shows that a man with the same name as that cited by authorities – Billy Monroe Jones – was charged in February in Greenwood District Court for being a felon in possession of a firearm and felony drug possession (oxycodone). The suspect opened fire, killing one officer and injuring a sheriff as well as a K-9 officer. Hackett Police Chief, Darrell Spells, was also wounded by a gunshot, when Jones allegedly grazed his head with a bullet. A standoff ensued after the suspect holed himself up in a home with a semi-automatic rifle around 7 a.m. He has not yet been charged. The shooting was first said to have occurred when officers went to serve a warrant.
The shooting happened Wednesday morning. He said the officers from several different departments had no idea what they were walking into.
Sebastian County Sheriff’s Lt. Philip Pevehouse tells Fort Smith television station KHBS that negotiators are attempting the reach the suspect. Responding to a 911 call, police arrived at the residence. He didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment Wednesday.
The mass response to shooting of two law officers near Hackett included an armored vehicle from the Fort Smith police. Pevehouse identified the two shot as a sheriff’s deputy and a Hackett police officer.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson mourned the loss, which comes after the deliberate shootings this summer of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Westerman says: “It’s a shame the price that law enforcement officers are paying right now”. Cooper died Wednesday after he was shot while responding to a home near Hackett, about 115 miles west of Little Rock.
No details about the officers’ conditions have been released.
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Both men were transported to the hospital.
