State police on Friday identified a deceased suspect and an injured woman who were involved in a shooting that killed a Stone County sheriff's deputy a day earlier.
Samuel Fullerton, 39, of 2021 Flag Road, Leslie, has been identified as the deceased suspect in Thursday's Stone County shooting.
Erika Johnson, 32, a resident at the Flag Road address, has been identified as the woman who was wounded in the shooting incident. Her wound was not life-threatening, authorities said.
On Thursday, authorities identified the deputy who was killed as Sgt. Mike Stephen, 56, of Pineville.
Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the state police, said the sheriff’s office received a call at 8:02 a.m. regarding a domestic disturbance in rural southwest Stone County, and Stephen got to the residence 37 minutes later.
“As he approached the house, he encountered a female he began talking to,” Sadler said. “In short order, gunfire erupted, and Deputy Stephen was killed at the scene.”
Two Stone County sheriff’s deputies were with Stephen when the gunfire began, according to an Arkansas State Police news release.
Sadler said the suspect also was killed in the gunfire. He didn’t say whether Stephen had returned fire.
Stephen's body was released from the Arkansas State Crime Lab Friday morning following an autopsy. Forensic evidence recovered at the scene has also been submitted to the state Crime Lab for analysis.
Fullerton was previously charged in 2018 with four counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, one count of aggravated assault and one count of second-degree battery, according to court documents. The last document in the case was a legacy docket sheet filed on June 27.