PHOTOS, VIDEO: Little Rock officer fatally shoots man during robbery try at shopping center, chief says

Little Rock police investigate an officer-involved shooting on Feb. 24, 2017.
Little Rock police investigate an officer-involved shooting on Feb. 24, 2017.

Little Rock police are investigating after an officer fatally shot a person who attempted to rob h̶i̶m her at a shopping center Friday night, authorities said.*

Officers responded to gunfire at the Ashley Square shopping center at North Rodney Parham Road and Reservoir Road shortly before 8 p.m.

Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner said at the scene that an officer was working off-duty but in uniform at a revenue office in the center. She was confronted in her unmarked car as she left by two would-be robbers, Buckner said.

"There was an exchange of gunfire between the officer and the suspects on scene there," Buckner said, speaking in front of a large crime scene marked off by tape in the center's parking lot.

He said one suspect was fatally shot by the officer. Two other people, whom he called "individuals of interest," were being questioned by investigators, though Buckner said it wasn't clear if they were involved.

He stressed that police were continuing to conduct criminal and administrative investigations and that it was too early to know definitively what happened. He said it appeared that the officer had "done a very good job in this situation."

A body could be seen in the parking lot of the shopping center as detectives investigated Friday night. Dozens of people looked on from behind yellow police tape.

The officer, whose identity was not released, was not hurt.

Buckner said the robbery attempt is "yet another example of the types of challenges we face in our city every day."

"It should be alarming that anyone would be that brazen to attempt to do something like that," he said.

Police were also on scene at a nearby apartment complex. It was unclear if that was related to the shooting.

Further details were not immediately available.

Check back with Arkansas Online for updates on this developing story.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the gender of the officer involved in the shooting.

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