A Hempstead County man was fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy attempting to serve a felony warrant on Thursday evening, the Arkansas State Police said Friday.
Randy May, 65, was killed in the shooting in the 2900 block of Arkansas 73, in the Columbus community in Hempstead County, the state police said in a news release.
According to a witness, May was armed with a machete and charged at deputies when they contacted him at the front door, the release says.
A deputy fired his service weapon, striking May, who succumbed to his injuries at the scene, the release says.
The state police will prepare an investigative file to be submitted to the Hempstead County prosecuting attorney, who will determine whether the use of deadly force was consistent with Arkansas laws, the release says.
The shooting was the 10th investigation initiated by the state police of an officer-involved shooting this year, including the April 7 shooting of a man who police fired at officers after crashing a vehicle into a massage business in Conway.
All but one of the officer involved shootings involved a fatality. In one case, it was the officer, a Stone County sheriff's deputy, who was killed.
In 2023, state police conducted at least 10 investigations into officer-involved shootings.