The Pulaski County man who authorities say shot at Jacksonville police who were entering his home on a search warrant is facing several charges of criminal attempt to commit capital murder, according to the Pulaski County sheriff’s office.
Mark Dodson, 53, was injured when officers returned fire. He was released from Baptist Health Medical Center-North Little Rock on Tuesday, said Pulaski County sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Carl Minden. Dodson was arrested and charged with seven counts of criminal attempt to commit capital murder and first-degree battery, Minden said.
He was taken to the Pulaski County jail, where he was awaiting a bail hearing.
Seven Jacksonville Police Department special-response-team officers, with the help of sheriff’s deputies and agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, entered Dodson’s 2327 Backbone Road home near Cabot about 6:20 a.m. Friday under a federal narcotics search warrant. Dodson, the home’s only resident, shot at officers from behind his bedroom door, striking officer Jerry Keefer, the sheriff’s office reported.
Keefer and two other officers, John Alberson and Christopher Schultz, shot back, hitting Dodson three or four times in the arms and legs, according to the sheriff’s office, which is investigating the shooting.
Dodson then called 911 from his bedroom, saying he’d been “shot in the leg” and was “fading in and out of consciousness,” the sheriff’s office said. He told the dispatcher that he was in a back bedroom and couldn’t move, deputies said.
He was transported to the hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Keefer, a 12-year veteran and the department’s training officer, was treated for a shotgun wound on his arm and was released. Alberson, a 15-year department veteran, and Schultz, a seven-year veteran, were uninjured.
The three Jacksonville officers remained on paid administrative leave Tuesday per department policy.
The special response team had set off a “flash bang,” a loud, bright explosive device used to disorient hostile targets, before they entered the home and announced their presence, Jacksonville police spokesman Capt. Kenny Boyd has said.
Boyd and Minden said Tuesday that they did not know what items police removed from the home, other than the Remington 16-gauge shotgun that they say Dodson used in the gunfire exchange with officers.
As sheriff’s office detectives investigate the shooting, Jacksonville police detectives are reviewing whether department policies and procedures were followed in the case. The Drug Enforcement Administration is in charge of the drug search and seizure.
According to Minden, Dodson was not facing federal charges Tuesday, and he was not being detained for a federal agency.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/27/2013