LR police shoot, kill man during raid at his home

Spokesman: He pointed rifle, officer fired

Family members react after police inform the group a relative was shot by police during a drug raid at 14th Street and South Tyler in Little Rock, January 17, 2012.
Family members react after police inform the group a relative was shot by police during a drug raid at 14th Street and South Tyler in Little Rock, January 17, 2012.

— Little Rock police shot and killed a man during an early-morning raid of a suspected drug house Tuesday.

Special Weapons and Tactics team officers serving a no-knock drug warrant at 6:30 a.m. breached the front and back doors at 1322 S. Tyler St. and announced that they were police serving a warrant. They were met by Angelo Clark, 31, who stood at the top of the stairs with a loaded AK-47 assault rifle and “directed the [rifle]” at SWAT officers, according to department spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings, who said Clark was killed when he was shot once in the upper body.

Clark didn’t fire the rifle, said Hastings, who added that he didn’t know whether officers ordered Clark to drop the weapon before firing.

The event happened so fast, Hastings said, that officers saw the rifle in Clark’s hands and felt that their lives were threatened - and one of them took a shot.

Police on Tuesday fatally shot a man during a drug raid at 1322 S. Tyler Street, authorities said. Family members on scene broke down after officers told them the suspect - whose name has not been released by authorities - was killed.

Police fatally shoot man during drug raid

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Paramedics assigned to accompany SWAT teams during search-and-seizure raids were at the scene, Hastings said. Clark was pronounced dead in his home.

Department officials would not identify the officer who shot Clark but said the officer had been in the department since 1996 and had been a SWAT member since 2000. In accordance with Police Department policy, he was put on administrative leave Tuesday, Hastings said. As with any officer-involved shooting, Hastings said, the department launched internal and criminal investigations to determine whether the shooting was justified.

Joe Bailey, 64, a retired business owner and neighbor of Clark’s, woke up at 6 a.m. and said he was going about his day when he heard two “bangs.”

“It sounded like an explosion, I thought a house had exploded,” Bailey said. It didn’t sound like gunshots, he said. “When I [stepped outside] and saw the [SWAT officers], I knew it had to be something, be drugs.”

The explosions were flash bangs, Hastings said, explosives that the SWAT officers used to disorient anyone inside the house before they entered.

Clark’s wife and child, whom Hastings wouldn’t identify, were in an upstairs bedroom when police entered the house.

The wife was detained by officers but was later released and was not charged with any crime, Hastings said. The spokesman said he didn’t know the age of Clark’s child.

According to Hastings, investigators found a “grow operation” in Clark’s home, with several marijuana plants, scales, a bag of marijuana and other paraphernalia.

Hastings said Clark’s home had been under surveillance by drug investigators for several weeks and that undercover detectives had bought crack-cocaine from the residence during that surveillance.

Beyond the drugs, police found a second loaded clip for Clark’s AK-47, as well as a loaded .40-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol.

Hastings said it “appears” that Clark owned the weapons legally but that was still under investigation.

Officers also found surveillance equipment in the house, Hastings said, which was used to monitor the outside of the house.

Hastings said detectives didn’t think the equipment alerted Clark to the officers as they prepared to enter his home.

Clark’s death is the fifth homicide in Little Rock this year and the first fatal officer-involved shooting since April 16, when patrol officer Grant Humphries shot and killed Andrae Lambert during a late-night traffic stop after the two men struggled over agun in Lambert’s truck.

Hastings said the department’s SWAT teams average 200 search-and-seizure entries a year.

The last time a drug raid ended in a fatal shooting was March 26 when Little Rock police opened the steel door of a suspected drug house at 2200 S. Marshall St. and a suspect opened fire.

In that case, Irma Rogers, 42, was killed after SWAT officers shot her in the head. Four others were injured in the raid, including three police officers.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/18/2012

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