An officer assigned to a Drug Enforcement Administration task force was injured in a shooting early Thursday morning in Little Rock.
Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Steve McClanahan said the officer, whose name wasn't released, has already been treated at Saline Memorial Hospital and released for his injuries, which McClanahan said may have been from the shot itself or from the shot hitting glass that then broke and struck him.
David Downing, assistant special agent in charge of the Little Rock office, said at the scene that two suspects have been arrested in Texas.
On Thursday afternoon, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Christopher Thyer said in a news release that David Eduardo Verduzco, 22, of Little Rock was arrested in connection with the shooting in Temple, Texas.
Thyer said Verduzco and another unknown man were arrested when officers stopped their sport utility vehicle on Interstate 35 in Temple, Texas, nearly 450 miles from Little Rock about 7 a.m..
The shooting happened about 1 a.m. on Jan Drive, which runs off Alexander Road north of Interstate 30 in southwest Little Rock. Gerarto Iriarte, also known as Ed, 43, was arrested about 90 minutes after the shooting at his residence on Laver Circle in Little Rock.
Two DEA agents went to Verduzco's home on Jan Lane as part of a methamphetamine investigation, Thyer said. The agent driving dropped another agent off at the home and drove down the street. When the driver returned, a shot was fired into the vehicle and a "bullet or glass" punctured the agent's shoulder, Thyer said.
Two mobile homes on the street — 56 and 57 Jan Drive — remained blocked off with crime scene tape at 9:45 a.m. Little Rock and DEA officers were also present and Thyer said they found a semi-automatic pistol "in plain view" on the ground at the scene.
The two men appeared in front of U.S. magistrate judges Thursday and will remain in custody pending the return of a federal indictment, Thyer said.
The two had been charged with distribution and possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine from a previous drug investigation, Thyer said.
Scott South, a 52-year-old resident across the street from the homes roped off by tape, said he heard a noise he initially believed to be a firework before seeing a man he recognized as a resident twice go back and forth loading items into a vehicle.
"He's doing this like he's on the clock," South said, standing in his front yard while police continued to work across the way. "But I'm just thinking he's running late for work or something."
An ambulance arrived some five minutes later, and the man got in the vehicle and "took off that way," South said, gesturing east down Jan Drive.
Police arrived a short time later, South said, and he soon realized the firework he thought he heard was actually a gunshot.
A DEA official at the scene declined comment, citing an ongoing investigation, but said more details may be released later.
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Jan Drive
Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.