Arkansas deputy kills tractor rider who was armed with crossbow, sheriff says

A map showing the location of Lone Rock.
A map showing the location of Lone Rock.

A man armed with a crossbow and driving a stolen tractor was shot and killed by a Baxter County deputy after a traffic stop Monday evening, according to Sheriff John Montgomery.

Deputy Craig Gates shot Michael Lavelle Holliman, 50, after Gates stopped the tractor on a county road near Lone Rock, about 18 miles south of Mountain Home, according to Montgomery.

"Preliminary information indicates that once the deputy stopped the tractor, the man operating the tractor confronted the deputy with a crossbow," according to a news release from Montgomery on Tuesday morning. "A physical struggle ensued, and the deputy shot the man with his sidearm. The man was killed, and the deputy sustained minor injury."

At about 6:11 p.m. Monday, Gates responded to a call from the Lone Rock Store on Arkansas 341 to take a theft report, according to the sheriff. After arriving, Gates saw a tractor pass by that matched the description of one reported stolen earlier that day in the same general area.

The tractor headed west on Baxter County Road 72, next to the store, and Gates followed, initiating a traffic stop at 6:49 p.m. "to inquire further into the status of the tractor," according to the news release.

Two minutes later, Gates radioed that shots had been fired and a man was down.

The Arkansas State Police was called to the scene to take the lead in the investigation, according to Montgomery.

After notification of Holliman's next of kin, the names of Holliman and Gates were made public Tuesday afternoon in a second news release from Montgomery.

Holliman provided a Nacogdoches, Texas, address when he was arrested Jan. 30 by Mountain Home police for driving while intoxicated. Police found three loaded handguns and one disassembled shotgun in Holliman's vehicle during the arrest, according to the sheriff. A warrant was issued Feb. 13 for Holliman's arrest for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Holliman has an "extensive past arrest history in Missouri, California, Iowa and Texas, including convictions for armed robbery, grand theft and assault," according to the Tuesday afternoon release.

A disabled vehicle registered to Holliman was found about a mile and a half away from the shooting scene on a U.S. Forest Service road, according to the sheriff.

"Officers found a backpack, a cache of food, clothing, car keys, and other articles at a makeshift campsite in a wooded area approximately one-half mile from where the car was found along the same forest road," according to the news release.

Holliman isn't known to have any family or acquaintances in the area, according to Montgomery.

Holliman's body has been sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for autopsy.

Gates has been with the sheriff's office since July 2015.

Metro on 03/21/2018

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