Seven-hour, rest-area standoff follows shooting

A shooting early Saturday in Saline County left five people injured and led to a seven-hour, rest-area standoff with the suspected gunman, authorities reported Saturday afternoon.

Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies in central Arkansas helped in the search for the suspect and then in the ensuing standoff.

About 1 a.m., Saline County deputies were dispatched to a reported shooting in the 6500 block of East Sardis Road in Hensley, where five people had been shot, according to a news release.

About 3 a.m., investigators publicly identified John Grable as a suspect in the case.

Saline County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Joe Traylor said Grable, who is in his mid-40s, lives in southwest Little Rock.

About 3 a.m., deputies notified the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office they were searching for Grable and asked for help scouring the west side of Lake Maumelle, which is in Pulaski County, according to Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Cody Burk.

Shortly after 3 a.m., Arkansas State Police troopers, who also joined the search, found Grable in a vehicle parked in a small rest area off Arkansas 10 near Duffy Road, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mitch McCoy said. Grable refused to leave the vehicle, and the Pulaski County SWAT team’s crisis negotiation unit was called to help, McCoy said.

For the next seven hours, deputies and troopers blocked all lanes of Arkansas 10 in the stretch surrounding Grable’s vehicle as negotiators worked to get Grable to surrender, McCoy said. The majority of the negotiation, McCoy said, was done through a phone.

A deputy stationed on Arkansas 10 turned away all vehicles in the area.

Finally, after more than seven hours, Grable surrendered to deputies without further incident, McCoy said. The Arkansas Department of Transportation said Arkansas 10 opened at noon Saturday.

Traylor said the shooting victims were all adults and four of the five were in “serious but stable” condition in a hospital as of Saturday afternoon. The other victim had been released from the hospital Saturday evening, according to reports.