LITTLE ROCK — Conway police officers shot and wounded a knife wielding man Sunday afternoon, police said.
LaTresha Woodruff, spokesman for the Conway Police Department, said the unidentified suspect refused several commands to put down a knife and then “charged” at an officer before he was shot “at least once.”
“He did not comply,” Woodruff said. “He charged one of our officers. They fired. This person was hit but I don’t know how many times. ... At that point he went down.”
Woodruff said she did not have a name for the man shot by police, nor could she say how many officers were involved in the shooting or give their names.
The shooting was preceded by a 911 call shortly before 2 p.m. for “some kind of incident” at the Plaza Pointe Apartments at 2400 Market Plaza Drive.
The first officer at the complex saw the man with a knife outside and told him to put it down.
More officers arrived, Woodruff said, and shouted commands, but the man “refused.”
One officer used a Taser to subdue the suspect, Woodruff said, and although the Taser hit him, it had no effect.
After more verbal commands, the man with the knife charged at one of the officers and some of the officers opened fire.
Woodruff was unable to say how many shots were fired, nor was she able to say how close the man got to an officer.
The suspect was taken to a Little Rock hospital by helicopter. His condition was unknown Sunday night.
Upon further investigation, police suspect that the man with the knife had stabbed his roommate at the complex, but that the unidentified roommate’s wounds were “not life-threatening,” Woodruff said.
Woodruff said that the shooting will be investigated by Conway detectives, but she said that the idea of bringing in an outside agency, such as the Arkansas State Police, to investigate the shooting hadn’t been ruled out.
Woodruff was unable to say when a Conway police officer had last shot someone.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 03/04/2013