Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said: “We have limited information as to why this has happened”.
Advertisement
Police investigate the scene Wednesday where Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office deputy Bill Cooper and Hackett Police Chief Da. He also acknowledged the injury Spells suffered.
Hollenback said Cooper was 65 and “dynamic”. Both were taken to Sparks Hospital in Fort Smith.
According to the report, Jones was due in court that morning and wanted to cause a “ruckus”. The warrant was issued before Cooper died and before Jones surrendered at a home at 4722 Arkansas 253 east of Hackett after a 4½-hour standoff with police.
Flags were lowered to half-staff at the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office in honor of Deputy Cooper and Police Chief Spells. He has not yet been charged.
A local sheriff from Arkansas announced Wednesday afternoon that a man suspected of shooting two police officers has been taken into custody.
The Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Smith Police, Greenwood Police and Arkansas State Police are all responding to the shooting.
Hollenbeck said the motivation for the shooting was unclear.
The incident was reported Wednesday morning in the area of Hwy. At least three helicopters were also sent to the scene.
“Essentially it was an ambush”, Fort Smith police spokesman Sgt. Daniel Grubbs told reporters.
The officers were shot at after a call came in at around 7 a.m. CT ( 8 a.m. ET) that a son had pulled a gun on his father during an argument, Hollenbeck said.
Sebastian County, on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border, is about150 miles west of Little Rock. But he says the incident illustrates how important it is for the community to support law enforcement. “It’s a shame the price that law enforcement officers are paying right now and, again, I don’t know any details about what’s happening here, but my heart and prayer is with them and their families”.
More than 200 members of law enforcement responded to the shooting.
No other details were immediately released.
Advertisement
During the encounter, Jones shot at and damaged a police robot providing surveillance to the responding officers, Hollenbeck said.
