CONWAY — A person who crashed a vehicle into a massage business in a Conway shopping center was fatally shot by police Saturday after barricading himself in the business and firing at officers, police said.
Police responded to Massage Envy at 1040 S. Amity Road in the Lewis Crossing Shopping Center after receiving a call about someone who had driven a vehicle into the business, the Conway Police Department said in a news release.
Officers arrived to find an armed male who had barricaded himself in a room, the release said.
SWAT and negotiations teams responded and, while they were talking with him, the man fired at officers, police said. Officers returned fire and shot him.
He was taken to a local hospital. Police announced on social media at 3:42 p.m. Saturday that he had died of his injuries.
The identity of the gunman was not immediately released. No injuries, beyond his, have been reported at this time, police said.
Some officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave. The release did not identify the officers or list how many had been placed on leave.
On Saturday afternoon, a large portion of the shopping center remained blocked off by police cars as about a dozen law enforcement officers milled around.
The rear of a white sport utility vehicle could be seen inside the massage business through a broken glass doorway. A window of a Newk’s Eatery next door was also broken.
Across the parking lot, Ashley McCoy, general manager of Crumbl Cookies, said she was opening around 8:30 a.m. when she heard what she thought were gunshots.
She said she called the police, and a dispatcher instructed her and other employees to stay inside until they were given the all-clear.
“We were scared to death,” McCoy said. “We didn’t know it was just some guy barricading. All we could see on Facebook were posts saying, ‘active shooter,’ and so we’re all calling our families.”
Almost two hours later, they received word that it was safe to open.
Nearby, Maria Hill of Conway was using her phone to record video of the scene. She said she had been hoping to repair her phone at a business just four storefronts down from Massage Envy, but when she drove up, she had to park on the other side of the lot.
“I saw all these cop cars when I was driving up and was like, ‘What’s going on?’” she said.
Cindy Murphy, a Arkansas State Police spokesperson, said she could confirm that the agency had been asked to investigate the officer-involved shooting.
“As in any other active investigation, we can’t make any other comments at this time,” Murphy said Saturday morning.
Conway police first posted about the incident on Facebook just after 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
My Ly is a Report for America Corps member.
This story has been updated; it was originally posted as "Armed suspect barricaded himself at Conway shopping center, shot by police, authorities say."
A police SWAT vehicle sits parked near a crime scene at the Massage Envy store in the Lewis Crossing Shopping Center in Conway where a vehicle crashed through into the business Saturday, April 6, 2024. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Colin Murphey)