UPDATE: A wounded police dog was found dehydrated but alive Friday morning after she ran from the scene of a shootout that left a deputy sheriff dead, police said.
Kina, a German Shepherd, was shot twice in the neck and back while she waited in her handler’s vehicle during the gunfight Wednesday.
The dog was found still wearing her bulletproof vest and was dehydrated but expected to make a full recovery.
Sebastian County Deputy Bill Cooper died and Hackett Police Chief Darrell Spells was injured in the shooting. The suspect, identified as Billy Monroe Jones remains in police custody.
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UPDATE: The Hackett police officer shot Wednesday morning has been identified as chief of police Darrell Spells. Spell was grazed by a bullet in the head and has since been released from the hospital. Sebastian County Deputy Bill Cooper remains in critical condition after being shot during the incident.
The suspect, now inc custody has been identified as Billy M. Jones, a known criminal with a long rap sheet, according to NEWS 5.
HACKETT, Ark. (AP) — A man suspected of shooting and wounding two law enforcement officers in Arkansas on Wednesday has been taken in into custody, according to the local sheriff.
The suspect was arrested several hours after the shooting was reported around 7:20 a.m. in a rural, wooded area near Hackett, Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck tells Fort Smith television station KHBS (http://bit.ly/2biHmyK ).
Hollenbeck says a Hackett police officer suffered “superficial” wounds during the shooting, but he declined to release the condition of the sheriff’s deputy who was shot. Hollenbeck declined further questions and quickly left the scene to go to a hospital to visit the deputy.
The officers were shot while responding to an unspecified call for service, Sebastian County Sheriff’s Lt. Philip Pevehouse said. Deputies later surrounded a house where the suspect had barricaded himself inside, Pevehouse said.
Pevehouse said the man’s father called police earlier in the day asking officers to check in on his son, but he didn’t release details about the call.
Pevehouse didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking details from The Associated Press. Arkansas State Police is providing assistance but referred calls to local authorities.
Hackett is about 115 miles west of Little Rock.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he didn’t have details about the shooting but said it underscored the danger that the state’s law enforcement officers face.
“It’s a risky business and it really illustrates the importance of our support for law enforcement,” Hutchinson told reporters at an event in North Little Rock.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, whose district includes part of Sebastian County, also didn’t have details about the incident but echoed the governor’s support for police statewide.
“This has to stop,” Westerman said. “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.”
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