Manhunt ends after police find suspect’s body

A multiagency manhunt for an attempted murder suspect in north Arkansas ended Thursday when authorities found him dead in a house in Gassville, authorities said.

Baxter County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Gassville police officers found the body of Alton Bruce Cooke, 28, in a home at 501 Kirkland St. on Thursday afternoon, Sheriff John Montgomery said in a news release. Cooke’s gunshot wound in his head appeared to be self-inflicted, Montgomery said.

Deputies began searching for Cooke after a 5 a.m. shooting Wednesday on Arkansas 178 near Midway, according to previous releases. A female driver at the scene told police Cooke rammed her vehicle twice, causing her to crash, before he fired multiple shots into her car, injuring her and a passenger.

Both people in the vehicle were hospitalized and later released, Montgomery said. Investigators believe Cooke and the driver had a previous relationship.

A warrant for Cooke’s arrest on charges of first-degree battery, two charges of attempted first-degree murder, four counts of aggravated assault, a charge of felon in possession of a firearm and a charge of unauthorized use of another person’s property to commit a crime was issued Wednesday evening.

Officers from the Mountain Home, Gassville and Flippin police departments, and investigators with the Arkansas Department of Community Corrections absconder unit, U.S. Marshals Service and the Arkansas Department of Corrections Tracking Dog Unit joined the Baxter County deputies in the search.