Police: Las Vegas man shot by Northwest Arkansas deputy

Man ‘lunged’ at officer in Fayetteville tire shop, police say

Law enforcement personnel investigate an officer-involved shooting Wednesday at Tire Tracks on South School Avenue in Fayetteville. The Washington County sheriff’s office said that Cpl. Brad Robinson shot and killed an unidentified man who was brandishing a knife.
Law enforcement personnel investigate an officer-involved shooting Wednesday at Tire Tracks on South School Avenue in Fayetteville. The Washington County sheriff’s office said that Cpl. Brad Robinson shot and killed an unidentified man who was brandishing a knife.

UPDATE: 11:30 A.M.

The Fayetteville Police Department identified the man shot by a Washington County Sheriff's deputy Wednesday as Benjamin Ortiz, 25, of Las Vegas.

Ortiz had a note inside his backpack indicating suicidal intentions and instructions to friends and family about what to do after his death, according to a news release.

The release also states that Cpl. Brad Robinson shot Ortiz twice in the torso and rendered aid until paramedics arrived on the scene.

Ortiz's body will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an autopsy.

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FAYETTEVILLE -- A Washington County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man who approached him with a knife outside a business Wednesday afternoon, said Sgt. Craig Stout, a police spokesman.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Law enforcement personnel investigate an officer-involved shooting Wednesday around 2 p.m. at Tire Tracks on South School Avenue in Fayetteville. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said Cpl. Brad Robinson was at the shop getting a flat tire repaired on his vehicle when a person suddenly pulled a knife and started walking toward him.

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Washington County Deputy Brad Robinson from the Washington County Sheriff's Office website.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette/CHRIS SWINDLE

A map showing the location of a shooting in Fayetteville.

Cpl. Brad Robinson, an 11-year sheriff's office veteran, shot the man after the man drew a knife and lunged at Robinson at 1:55 p.m. Wednesday at Tire Tracks at 800 S. School Ave., according to a sheriff's office news release.

Police did not release the man's name or age Wednesday.

Robinson was in uniform and was at the business getting a tire fixed on his patrol vehicle when the man pulled a 4-inch, fixed-blade knife from a backpack and approached Robinson, Stout said. The man ignored commands to drop the knife, and Robinson tried to retreat, Stout said.

The man "lunged" at Robinson, according to the release.

"In an effort to stop the threat, Corporal Robinson fired his weapon," according to release.

The exchange unfolded within seconds, Stout said.

Police could not confirm Wednesday how many shots Robinson fired or how many times the man was shot. Witnesses at Tire Tracks said there were multiple shots.

"I heard it, and I turned around, and I saw [the man] fall," Bailey Crider said. "He had blood all over him."

The man died in the front parking lot of the business, near a bay where Robinson's patrol vehicle was being worked on. No one else was hurt in the shooting, Stout said, and nothing else was hit by bullets.

The body will be sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock, Stout said.

By 2 p.m., police had marked off the parking lot with yellow crime-scene tape. Detectives measured and marked evidence. The man's body was covered with a white sheet until it was removed about 3:30 p.m.

Crider said police were at scene within minutes of the shooting.

Crider and another witness said they did not hear the man speak to the deputy before he was shot. Stout said he didn't know if the man said anything before taking out the knife.

Witnesses confirmed that the man approached the deputy with a knife. The business has video of the exchange, Stout said.

Robinson has not been involved in any similar instance, sheriff's office spokesman Kelly Cantrell said in a message Wednesday. Robinson did not know the man, according to the sheriff's office release.

The Fayetteville Police Department has opened a criminal investigation into the shooting, Stout said. The Washington County sheriff's office will conduct an internal investigation to make sure the department's policies were followed, Cantrell said.

In keeping with sheriff's office policy, Robinson is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the internal investigation, Cantrell said.

Wednesday's shooting is the fifth this year by a law enforcement officer in Washington County, prosecutor Matt Durrett said.

Metro on 12/22/2016

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