Chief: Community not taking sides in shooting

EUREKA SPRINGS — The city’s police chief Thursday praised the community’s support of both police and the family of a man killed Friday by an officer.

“There are a lot of witnesses to interview,” Eureka Springs Police Chief Billy Floyd said in a telephone interview about the Arkansas State Police investigation. “So I have no updates, but there is something I’d like to say. I’d like to show my appreciation for the support from the community. They’ve been very kind,” not only to the department and each other, but to the family of Christopher Vanschoick, 36, who died in Friday’s incident.

“This is a close-knit community, and they’re not taking sides,” Floyd said.

The State Police had no comment on the ongoing investigation Thursday, a spokesman said.

Two city police officers responded to a 911 call Friday from the Rowdy Beaver Den, a downtown bar on Spring Street, according to a news release Saturday by State Police. The call reported Vanschoick had brandished a handgun during a disturbance, the statement says.

The arriving officers found Vanschoick sitting in his vehicle on the street near the Rowdy Beaver Den, the statement says. They confronted Vanschoick, and a struggle ensued. Vanschoick produced a handgun, and one of the officers fired his own gun, striking Vanschoick, according to the statement.

Vanschoick was pronounced dead by the Carroll County Coroner’s Office. His body was to be transferred to the state Crime Laboratory to determine the cause and manner of death, the release states.

State Police will present an investigative case file to the prosecuting attorney, who will determine whether the use of deadly force was consistent with state law, according to the release.

The release did not disclose the names of the officers involved, and neither did Floyd on Thursday. The officers involved are off duty pending the investigation’s findings, he confirmed. This is a standard police practice in such incidents, he said.