Little Rock police silent on weapon wielded by man fatally shot by officer; photo released

Gun-shop clerks say weapon from shooting scene likely fires pellets or BBs

The weapon received from the scene of Tuesday's officer-involved shooting in the 500 block of East 8th Street in Little Rock.
The weapon received from the scene of Tuesday's officer-involved shooting in the 500 block of East 8th Street in Little Rock.

The weapon wielded by a man fatally shot Tuesday morning by Little Rock police likely was an air pellet gun or a BB gun, according to employees of two central Arkansas gun stores who viewed a photo of the weapon Thursday.



Police have declined to release information about the gun, although they did release a picture Wednesday. Police Chief Kenton Buckner and Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley defended that decision Thursday, stating a need to protect the integrity of the investigation.

According to police, Roy Richards, 46, was chasing a man identified as his uncle while "pointing a long gun at his back" early Tuesday. It was then that Little Rock officer Dennis Hutchins fired multiple shots, striking Richards, police said in a news release.

Hutchins, who had responded to a call about a disturbance in the 500 block of East Eighth Street at 12:37 a.m., said he fired because he believed Richards was going to shoot the other man in the back, police wrote in the release.

[OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING: All updates from this week on Little Rock police shooting]

Richards was pronounced dead at the scene.

Little Rock police described the weapon as a "long gun" in the report, and spokesman Lt. Steve McClanahan said the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney's office advised the department not to disclose the type of gun taken from the scene.

The two gun-store employees -- one who works at a shop in Little Rock and the other in North Little Rock -- looked at a photograph of the weapon. Each man asked not to be identified or to have his store named.

One of the gun store employees said if he was an officer, he would not have been able to tell what type of gun Richards was holding during the confrontation.

Buckner said Thursday that people will draw their own conclusion from the photo of the weapon, but said officials would not be able to confirm the type of weapon anytime soon.

The department decided to release the photo of the weapon because witness statements on 911 tapes -- released through the state's Freedom of Information Act -- described the shooting victim as armed with a gun, Buckner said.

Jegley said it's his job to protect the integrity of an investigation by not releasing important details that could taint witness accounts.

"This is a criminal investigation and I want facts and circumstances to be as untainted as possible," he said.

Jegley said it's standard practice to withhold important information from the public during a homicide investigation.

"I want to know what the witnesses saw, in their own words, without anything else being out there," he said.

Little Rock police also have not released the identity of a second officer who was present at the shooting.

Buckner said the decision on whether to release information about a case puts the department in a tough position regarding transparency and the need to safeguard the investigation.

"Damned if we do," he said. "Damned if we don't."

Metro on 10/28/2016

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