Police ID man shot by officers

Police have identified a Pine Bluff man who died after he was shot by law enforcement officers following a pursuit Friday.

The chase began after a Jefferson County deputy spotted a man, who was wanted on multiple, unspecified charges, outside a hotel on Commerce Road, according to a news release from the Arkansas State Police.

The man, later identified as 40-year-old Matthew Abrams, got into a vehicle with another person, whose name was not included in the release, and fled from the deputy, authorities said.

According to police, Abrams ran from the vehicle after it became stuck at a railroad crossing. He pointed a gun at a deputy, who shot at Abrams and is believed to have injured him, the release states.

Police said Abrams then fled into some woods, and Arkansas Department of Corrections officers later spotted him lying in dense brush, his gun pointed at them. The officers ordered him to drop his weapon and shot him when he refused to do so, according to authorities.

Abrams died at the scene, police said. His body, as well as other evidence, has been taken to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for analysis and to determine his exact cause of death.

The law enforcement agencies involved in the shootings, as well as the Jefferson County prosecuting attorney, asked the Arkansas State Police to investigate the use of deadly force by authorities.

The names and administrative statuses of the law enforcement officers involved in the shooting weren’t included in the news release.

Authorities said the other person in the stuck vehicle also tried to flee but was taken into custody. No charges were listed in the news release.