Police on Thursday identified the three North Little Rock officers who fired shots during a struggle with an armed teenager, killing him.
Officers Cody Stroud, Samantha Thompson and John Blankenship remain on paid administrative leave during the ongoing investigation, according to a news release from the city's Police Department.
Stroud and Thompson were hired at the agency July 7, 2014. Blankenship joined the Police Department on Aug. 5, 2013.
Police spokesman Lt. Brian Dedrick said all three officers fired shots.
The officer-involved shooting happened shortly after 1 a.m. Jan. 7 following a traffic stop near the intersection of 52nd Street and Camp Robinson Road.
WARNING: Video contains sensitive content
Note: The edits to the video, including the pauses and red circles, were added by the North Little Rock Police Department.
Authorities reportedly found a handgun on 17-year-old Charles Smith Jr. during a search of him and two other vehicle occupants.
As officers patted him down, Smith tried to "gain control" of the handgun and flee, at which point police took him to the ground, Police Chief Mike Davis previously said.
Davis said police opened fire at Smith after he was able to fire two shots, including one that almost struck an officer in the face.
Smith was pronounced dead at the scene. The teenager was under a court-ordered, 5 p.m. curfew when he died, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
The curfew, which barred him from being outside his home at night, was a condition of Smith's release from jail last year as he awaited trial on charges that he had participated in three armed robberies in Garland, Lonoke and Miller counties.
Read Friday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.