A Green Forest police officer was justified when he shot and killed a man from Burma who was charging at him with a machete on June 5, the Carroll County prosecuting attorney has determined.
Officer Frank Pedraza fired three shots, each of which hit Maung Tway, said Robert T. Rogers II, the prosecutor. Rogers said two shots hit Tway in the chest and that one hit him in the hand.
Rogers explained his decision in a June 25 letter sent to Special Agent Jana Cordes of the Arkansas State Police and Green Forest Police Chief John Bailey.
Green Forest police officers went to Tway's apartment after three of his roommates reported he was causing a disturbance and that they wanted him removed from the premises, according to a state police news release last month.
The other residents said Tway, 34, was destroying his room, according to Rogers' letter.
Pedraza went to the apartment and up the stairs to the closed door of Tway's room. Standing about 5 feet from the door, Pedraza asked Tway three times to exit the room, according to Rogers' letter.
Pedraza drew his gun and heard a loud bang, as if someone hit the bedroom door with a club or blunt object, wrote Rogers.
"Mr. Tway then rapidly opened the bedroom door and exited aggressively charging at the officer with a machete-type knife," wrote Rogers. "Officer Pedraza repeatedly ordered Mr. Tway to drop the knife but he refused."
In a video, Tway can be seen raising the knife above his head as Pedraza fires his gun.
Tway was taken to Mercy Hospital in Berryville, where he was pronounced dead, according to the letter.
"It is clear from the body-cam video that Officer Pedraza was under deadly attack and that a reasonable person in the officer's position would have felt he was under imminent threat of death or serious physical injury," wrote Rogers.
Rogers wrote that his investigation is complete.
"Although the reports from the Arkansas State Police are still outstanding due to pending toxicology reports from the Arkansas State Crime Lab, the body camera evidence itself is sufficient for me to render an opinion at this time," wrote Rogers. "It is the opinion of this office that Officer Pedraza of the Green Forest Police Department was justified in discharging his duty weapon, and his actions accordingly were justified under the laws of the state of Arkansas."