A Pine Bluff patrol officer shot a colleague early Friday after mistaking him for an armed suspect while investigating an unsecured door at business where authorities were conducting surveillance, officials said.
It happened about 5 a.m. at the Tobacco Outlet at 3800 S. Camden Road, where several burglaries had recently been reported.
Lt. David E. Price said officers were inside "conducting surveillance" because of the recent crimes there when a patrol officer spotted an unsecured door and went to investigate "unaware the other officers were inside."
"When the patrol officer entered the business to check it, he came into contact with a dark figure, which was one of the surveillance officers, holding a weapon," Price said in a statement. "A shot was fired and the surveillance officer was struck in the arm."
Price said he couldn't comment on where the communication broke down between the surveillance officers and the officer who opened fire.
"I'm not at liberty to say on that, it's part of the investigation," Price said. "I don't know the circumstances that surround it. That's what they're working on now try to find out."
The officer who was shot was treated and released for a non-life-threatening injury.
Police have not released either officers' name as the investigation into what happened continues and Price said he couldn't release their time on the force either. The officer who fired the shot is on paid administrative leave.