Billy Monroe Jones, 34, also shot at and wounded a small-town police chief, before surrendering to law enforcement officers who had surrounded his rural home, a sheriff said.
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Jones, 35, visited his father’s house to take some tools, according to Hollenbeck.
Sheriff’s Cpl. William “Bill” Cooper was shot in the neck after responding to the report of a domestic disturbance near Greenwood, NBC News reported.
A spokesman for the Fort Smith Police Department said three officers (all from different law enforcement agencies) were originally called to Jones’ residence for a dispute between Jones and his father. Officers are now trying to negotiate with Jones.
Hutchinson said Cooper’s death and Spells’ injury “tragically illustrates the dangers our law enforcement officers face each and every day to keep us safe”. He was treated and released, Hollenbeck said.
Reports said that the suspect believed to have shot the officers was still at large and was being hunted by police.
The officers are believed to have arrived to execute a warrant when they were attacked at around 7am local time this morning (1pm United Kingdom time). A man suspected of shooting and wounding the two law enforcement officers has been taken in into custody, according to the local sheriff.
“We have limited information as to why this has happened”, Hollenbeck said, adding that investigators are “looking into” the possibility that this was a planned attack.
Pevehouse tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that one sheriff’s deputy and one Hackett Police Department officer were shot.
Billy Jones was barricaded inside his home, according to Phillip Peevehouse with the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Department.
Currently, Jones is facing charges of two counts of felony first-degree battery and possession of firearms by certain persons, the Sebastian County prosecutor’s office tells the station. Two helicopters and Johnson County Emergency Management all terrain vehicles were also deployed to search for the suspect. He loved to work with the men and women in the sheriff’s office and was close to the people in the Special Services Division, Hollenbeck said. Drivers in the area said the highway was blocked in both the north and southbound directions for several hours after the shooting incident.
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“Most of the time law enforcement officers get it right”, Hollenbeck said during the news conference.
