HOT SPRINGS — A suspect who was being pursued by a Garland County sheriff’s deputy after a disturbance on Appalacian Trail on Thursday night crashed his vehicle as the result of a self-inflicted gunshot, the sheriff’s office said Friday.
Investigator Terry Threadgill said the vehicle crashed on Joy Terrace around 10:30 p.m. Thursday. The name of the suspect was not released Friday.
“All indications are, at this point in time, that the suspect fired one shot at himself,” which led to his death, Threadgill said.
Threadgill and investigator John Greathouse said deputies had responded to a report of a disturbance around 10:30 p.m. Thursday at a residence on Appalacian Trail, where the suspect was reported to be involved in a domestic battery. The victim said the suspect had a gun and was beating on her door.
The suspect drove away, but a deputy found a vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle on Joy Drive and attempted to make a traffic stop.
The suspect turned off the vehicle’s headlights and drove away from the deputy onto Joy Terrace, where the crash occurred after the gunshot, police said.
Threadgill said the suspect’s body was sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for autopsy.