Man shot at Air Force base gate dies

Larry Dean McElroy Jr.
Larry Dean McElroy Jr.

The armed man who was shot at the main gate of the Little Rock Air Force Base when he tried to access the facility Monday has died.

An FBI spokesman said Larry McElroy Jr. died at UAMS Medical Center shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday from injuries sustained in the shooting.

McElroy was taken to the hospital after being shot about 9:15 a.m. in an exchange that prompted the base in Jacksonville to lock down for more than three hours and to shut its main Vandenberg Boulevard gate for most of the day.

He had been hospitalized in critical condition. Deb Green, a spokesman for the FBI, said it wasn't clear how many times McElroy was shot or where he was shot.

The FBI on Tuesday said searches of McElroy's home and vehicle revealed no explosives and that no apparent ties to terrorism were found.

The base commander, Col. Charles "Chip" Brown, said Monday that McElroy's motive and intentions were unknown, but that two officers at the gate engaged him when his Ford Expedition ran up on a curb and he got out with a rifle in his hands.

Reports from the Pulaski County sheriff's office show McElroy had a history of paranoia and believed that the base was spying on him, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Wednesday.

See Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full coverage.

Man shot trying to get onto Air Force Base

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

The vehicle driven by Larry Dean McElroy Jr. when he tried to breach a gate Monday at Little Rock Air Force Base sits in the driveway Tuesday where McElroy lived at 4120 West Maddox Road in Jacksonville, less than a mile north of the base.

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An FBI investigator talks with an Air Force member while investigating a shooting in which an unidentified man tried to force his way onto Little Rock Air Force Base. The man was shot by base security after crashing his vehicle at the base’s gate.

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