Gunshots by officer fatal in LR

Police: Robbery attempt involved

Little Rock police are investigating after an off-duty officer fatally shot a man in the parking lot of a shopping center Friday night.

Off icers responded about 7:49 p.m. to the Ashley Square shopping center at North Rodney Parham Road and Reservoir Road.

Police Chief Kenton Buckner said an officer had been working as a security guard at a state revenue office in the shopping center. The officer, who was wearing a uniform, was walking to an unmarked police vehicle in the parking lot when at least one person tried to

rob the officer, Buckner said.

“There was an exchange of gunfire between the officer and the suspects on scene there,” Buckner said.

The man suspected of trying to rob the officer was fatally shot. The officer was not injured.

Buckner said detectives were questioning two “individuals of interest” in the case, but further circumstances of the killing were unclear. The department did not immediately identify anyone involved in the shooting.

Buckner said an investigation is ongoing.

Dozens of people watched from behind yellow police tape as detectives investigated Friday night. The man’s body and trails of blood could be seen behind a partition that police placed in the parking lot.

Some women arrived at the shooting scene about 9:15 p.m. and said they believed the man killed was their cousin. One of the women, Croshundra Williams, said a family member had called them and said their cousin was “up here laying on the ground” at the shopping center. She said family members tried to call the cousin repeatedly and went to the area when no one answered.

Williams said the police account of the shooting didn’t make sense.

“All I know is my cousin is a very good man,” she said.

Williams wasn’t the only one who said the killing, as police described it, sounded strange.

“It’s just not adding up at all,” said Samantha Jones, who was driving home when she stopped to see what had happened at the shopping center. “Why would you try rob a fully clothed officer?”

Buckner, speaking to reporters Friday night, stressed that an investigation had just begun and said police were working to gather more information. He described an attempted robbery of a uniformed police officer as “yet another example of the types of challenges we face in our city every day.”

“It should be alarming that anyone would be that brazen to attempt to do something like that,” he said.

The shooting Friday is the first involving a Little Rock police officer this year.

There were five shootings involving officers last year.

In December, officer Kalvin Snow shot Gary Johnson, 30, after Johnson reportedly called 911 and falsely claimed he’d killed people and was armed with two handguns. Police said Snow shot Johnson after Johnson refused to take his hands out of his pockets, then suddenly removed his hands. The shooting is under investigation.

In October, officer Dennis Hutchins fatally shot Roy Richards, 46, in downtown Little Rock after Richards reportedly pointed an air rifle at another man. That shooting also remains under investigation.

In September, tactical officer Matthew Thomas shot Lloyd St. Clair, 59, while executing a narcotics search warrant at a residence in rural Pulaski County. Police said St. Clair pointed a gun at officers. Prosecutors ruled the shooting was justified.

Two other officers, Shawn Bakr and Lora Montano, were

involved in off-duty shootings earlier in 2016 and were cleared of any wrongdoing.