Hackett, Ark. – An Arkansas man who wanted to cause a “ruckus” ahead of a court hearing shot and killed a sheriff’s deputy Wednesday, and wounded a small-town police chief, before surrendering to law enforcement officers who had surrounded his rural home, a sheriff said.
Sebastian County Deputy Bill Cooper was pronounced dead about 1:15 p.m. after being shot in the neck, Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said during a news conference. Hackett Police Chief Darrell Spells suffered superficial wounds after apparently being grazed by a bullet.
Billy Monroe Jones, 34, had gone to his father’s house earlier Wednesday to take some tools, Hollenbeck said. According to the sheriff, Jones pointed a gun at his father, who called 911. Cooper and Spells were among officers who found Jones with a rifle and body armor when they went to his home east of Hackett, near the Oklahoma border.
