Police search for shooter who caused lockdown of schools
HOT SPRINGS — Authorities on Friday evening continued a search for an unidentified man who shot at a Fountain Lake School District employee and caused a lockdown at area schools.
A manhunt was underway Friday around Cutter Morning Star School District buildings that involved the Garland County sheriff’s office, Hot Springs police, a helicopter, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, National Park Service, the FBI, the Arkansas Department of Correction and troopers from the Arkansas State Police.
The Lakeside School District also issued a lockdown after the assailant fled from Garland County deputies near Cutter Morning Star.
The events began about 5:30 a.m. Friday at the Fountain Lake School District when an employee discovered someone stealing gas from the bus barn.
A news release from Fountain Lake Superintendent Darin Beckwith said the employee followed the man several miles down Arkansas 7 and called the Garland County sheriff’s office. In a sheriff’s office news release, investigator Scott Hinojosa said the employee reported that the man fired shots at him after they left the campus.
Hinojosa said sheriff’s deputies located the man’s vehicle in the 2800 block of Spring Street shortly after 9 a.m.
At that time, the man attempted to hit deputies with his vehicle, and shots were fired at the assailant, according to the release. The man then struck a sheriff’s office vehicle and wrecked his own vehicle near Cutter Morning Star, then fled on foot.
The search continued through the early afternoon, and Cutter Morning Star remained on lockdown but transitioned to a soft lockdown after a the sheriff’s office Tactical Response Team cleared the buildings shortly before 2 p.m., according to the school district’s website.
Cutter Morning Star Superintendent Nancy Anderson said the authorities believed the students were safe but were just being cautious.
“A lot of what we did today was precautionary,” she said.
The Lakeside School District locked down as a precaution while police conducted the search, Lakeside Superintendent Shawn Cook said.
Cook said the district had locked down all schools after receiving a call from a Cutter Morning Star official saying the schools there were also on lockdown while police searched for the assailant.
Cook said it is the district’s procedure to lock down when a neighboring school is also in lockdown. A Lakeside School official said the lockdown there was lifted a little before 1 p.m. Friday.
After the search around Cutter Morning Star was called off around 2 p.m., Hinojosa said authorities would continue looking for the man.
In the news release, Hinojosa said the department has a person of interest who has not been identified.
“Our priority is going to be able to identify the suspect so we can follow through and apprehend him,” Hinojosa said.