JONESBORO -- A Jonesboro police officer shot and killed a man who struck him with a machete at the man's Walnut Street home Tuesday night, authorities said.
Christopher Grant Finley, 31, was pronounced dead in his 900 Walnut St. home after officer Heath Loggains shot him several times, said Lt. Stephen McDaniel, a spokesman for the Jonesboro Police Department.
Finley hit Loggains in the arm with a machete as the officer tried to push open Finley's front door during a disturbance at his home, McDaniel said.
Loggains, an eight-year veteran of the Police Department, was treated and released at a Jonesboro hospital for minor "blunt force" injuries. He is on paid administrative pending an Arkansas State Police investigation.
Police had responded to Finley's home earlier in the night after neighbors called to report that Finley was in his front yard screaming and holding a baseball bat. Officers confronted Finley in his yard about 9 p.m. Tuesday, but he ran inside.
Officers left, but a short time later discovered that he was wanted on previous charges of aggravated assault and third-degree domestic battery over a disturbance with his girlfriend. They returned at 11:30 p.m. to arrest him, and Finley came outside.
"He immediately fled into the residence as the officer pursued," McDaniel said.
Finley tried to shut the door, but Loggains pushed on the door, McDaniel said. Finley then struck him with the long knife, McDaniel said. Loggains fired several times into the home, fatally striking Finley, McDaniel said.
Officers didn't know at first whether Finley had been killed, and police evacuated nearby homes as a tactical unit surrounded Finley's house, McDaniel said.
Laura Pugh, who lives across the street from Finley's home and has known him for several years, said she awoke to the sound of shots about 11:30 p.m.
"I heard, 'Boom, boom, boom,'" she said. "I thought someone was hitting on my storm window. I got up and saw the blue lights, and I smelled the gunpowder."
She said officers made her and others in the area leave their homes as about "25 SWAT and snipers were surrounding his place."
Pugh said she sneaked through a neighbor's backyard to watch the officers.
"At 1:30 [a.m.], I saw them go to the door," she said. "Then I heard a loud 'boom,' and they busted the door in.
"I knew Grant was dead."
Pugh, 56, said she befriended Finley when he moved into his Walnut Street home four years ago.
"He had some mental issues," she said.
She said he was fearful of others and once showed her a camera he installed at his doorway so he could see whoever approached his home.
"When he was on his medication, he was the most tender-hearted young man you'd ever meet," she said. "When he was off them, Grant was a scared little kid."
State police spokesman Bill Sadler said Wednesday evening that Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott requested state police assistance to investigate the shooting to determine whether deadly force was warranted by the officer.
Sadler said agents will turn over their investigative file to Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington once it is completed.
State Desk on 04/16/2015