- Officer Involved Shooting in Morrilton

A Morrilton police officer opened fire on a shoplifting suspect trying to make his get-away. It happened at Highway 9 and Highway 9B in Morrilton this afternoon.

[jennifer johnson]

I was wondering what is the procedure in an fleeing vehical. I knew this child well and the way the town of morrilton is with so many mysterious deaths of black young men I just need to know. When I seen this I was shocked, With the officers training why they didnt throw spikes or road blocks up toward blackwell or follow with caution the child was unarmed.....

[Shawn Jackson]

I agree with the post from Jennifer, I knew this child and his family, because I am their cousin.
I know he was in the wrong for what he did but after he ran in the ditch from the police shooting a tire out, they could have arrested him then with easy, but they chose to shooting him in the car 7 times. This incident was handle wrong by the police, he was a shoplifter not a armed robber.

[Morrilton Citizen]

I would like to know the procedure too. I am studying Criminal Justice and so far what we have been taught does not follow what I am hearing of the way the situation was handled.

If he was unharmed could he not have been chased on foot or are the police to out of shape to handle that? Could he have not been shot in the leg if he had to be shot at instead of the head and chest? Did they have to take a young life?

I am so disappointed in the way our youth are handled. They do something wrong and they are thrown away. Very little is done to help correct them, give them a reason to live life in an honest way. We have nothing for our youth and we as a community,(this is everywhere not just Morrilton) do nothing for them. We don't let them know we are there for them.

Yes what he did was wrong. He stole some liquor but did that warrant taking his life from him and his family? His child? Who will now grow up without a father.

I hope that our police, police everywhere and our community and communities everywhere see that something needs to be done to help correct our youth and our system.

I also think that police need to pass a fitness test every year and if they can't then off the force or behind the desk you go.

He was running and if you can't catch him then how about let him go and get him later. Did you have to take a life?

My heart goes out to his family, his child and his friends.

[Concerned]

I have heard there was a child or infant in the vehicle (could not be true) but if so is it procedure to shoot into a vehicle not knowing who is in that car, especially if they are not shooting at you? What if that child would have been hit?

I doubt it but I do hope that the police office who did the shooting feel so much guilt over this. I don't consider what they were doing as "doing their job".

Some have asked regarding the procedure of shooting at a fleeing suspect. This is what I have found on the internet:

"If a fleeing suspect has committed a crime that doesn't involve the use of violence, then a pursuit may not be justified because of the risk to the officers, the public and even the fleeing suspect,"

If he did not have a gun and was not shooting at anyone then I don't see where the shooting towards him is justified. I hope justice is served.

[Typical Insolence]

He had just dropped his son off so luckily "Baldy" (my nickname for him) Was not in the car. But as far as his mother knew when she heard her child was involved. I'm glad he was okay.

I too am concerned about the excessive use of force in this matter. I know I will miss him as will my children who are his first cousins.

[Info regarding shooting]

I did hear from a witness who had to give a statement that when he was shot at he was in the car driving towards the police. I am not sure if that is still justified with shooting the number of rounds they shot. But if they felt their life was in danger....

[morrilton resident]

i totally agree that the shooting was unjustified. even if he did steal the whiskey is 50 or even 100 dollars worth a life. this was a kid not even of legal drinking age doing what kids do...getting into trouble. it is hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that the only option for the morrilton pd or state pd is to open rounds into the car. I DO NOT THINK STEALING IS RIGHT but I also do not believe the life of a kid is worth a bottle of whiskey. The police of morrilton are untrained and many of deaths have happened within the last couple years with stipulation of could this been avoided and the answer for all of them is yes. I believe all the police officers of central arkansas should be better equipped for situations like this to prevent this very action. I am sorry for the loss of the family and hope for the best for everyone involved in this.

[sherry]

I think this is an outrage!!! A bottle of liquor is not worth ones life. The police are dirty!! I have heard this on many occasions and now i truly belive this. I am going to keep his mother and family in my prayers. Robin i love you!!!

[Lynn]

First of all, I want to say that unless you were there you don't know what really happened. No information has been released as to what happened because the state police are investigating, so all these folks who are saying this and that about it are full of it. There are so many stories flying around right now it is really ridiculous. Apparently people have nothing better to do than to make up and enhance stories. To the person who said that the officers are untrained I have this to say to you, the officers that were involved have been through the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy. This is 3 months of training and they don't just pass anyone. You have to pass tests every week, written as well as physical. These officers ARE trained. They put their lives on the line every day for you and me and everyone else. When something happens and you need the police I hope you remember all the bad stuff you are saying about them. My prayers do go out to the families of the young man who lost his life and also to the officers and their families. And I would hope that people would stop talking until they know the facts.

[pathetic]

this event happened not 15 minutes away from where i live.i feel DISGUSTED to say i live in the city of morrilton.i knew this man and his life did NOT have to be taken because of something like this..if they thought his life should be taken for "shoplifting" then maybe everyone whom has shoplifted should be dead.he was a good guy and i thank GOD that my baby cousin *the victims son* was at home safe when this occoured..The victim and his family are in my thoughts and prayers

[X resident]

I have run into problems with the police in this county, they are dirty and need to be under federal investigation. All their badges needs to be taken away. I hope this leads into something where Conway County should be cleaned up and the Sheriff is outta there. The Sheriff that ran against him won.However the prior Sheriff got it! imagine that! That should tell you how dirty they are! I know all about this mess, I hope one day they will clean it up! lets hope!!!! I feel sorry for the family, they need to sue them for all that they are worth! I know I would if I got the chance! Dirty PPL!

[Disgusted]

This is horrible! The things that go on in that County is unbelievable! I totally agree with the comment above mine. This should go under an investigation. I have heard nothing but horror stories about this place. I would not live there, it is like that everywhere. However this county stands out. So much stuff goes on and there is no answers for it. It is a very crooked place it seems like, not a place that I would want to raise my child there. I hope there will be something done about it for the family sake. He was awful young and there was still a chance for him. Now we will never know. I hope something is done about it soon, before something bad happens again.

[conwayco_residen t]

I think everyone needs to read Lynn's post. EVERY officer must go thru training. Like she posted, rumors are flying everywhere...yet the actual information is not being released until the STATE POLICE investigation is complete.
Everyone is so quick to judge the law enforcement in this area...and so quick to want to give a slap on the hand to the criminals because they feel they have been wronged. But yet, the minute they have trouble in their own backyard...they want law enforcement to do something right then with no questions asked.
Let me leave you with this. I have had many meals eaten alone, because my spouse worked thru dinner to work an accident, or bring a drunk driver in to be booked so that he/she could get off the roads so that you could be safe...I've had to attend many of my children's activites alone and explain that Daddy is not there because he is working late trying to make the place they live safe. He's not there for so many things because he's out doing a job that so many people degrade him for so that YOU are safe. My children and I sacrifice having him home for events we feel are important to us so that YOU are safe on the road..safe in your homes, safe in your community. And it's not just him...it's the other men and women who are also in law enforcement in this County/City. You pass whatever judgement you feel is best...but what remains is that they are STILL out there protecting you and your loved ones. When YOU find yourself in trouble..it is THEM you will call first. And they will be there...and remember..all the while, probably missing a meal with their family, or a child's dance recital, or school function, or maybe they haven't seen their kids in a few days because they are working on a case...but they will be there to serve and protect.

[Commenting]

I am grateful for our police who are there to protect us but not when they are dishonest. Not all but there are many that are. I have seen it with my own eyes. It is not just in Morrilton it is everywhere!!

But it is hard to trust police and law enforcement when you know first hand they are crooked.

As far as having to explain to your children what daddy is doing and that is why he isn't there.. He chose that profession, he chose to protect us. That is not the people's fault he is not there because of his career choice. Like I said I am grateful he did. But there have been instances when someone was hiding in my neighbor's vehicle (lived in a duplex, she went to roll up the windows and he jumped out and we called the police because this guy had a knife and took them 32 minutes to get there. I have a child that the police have made rude remarks to him regarding a crime he was charged with, served his community service but when a certain one or two see him they make rude remarks. I knew a police officer in Jacksonville personally who stole computers from a school and filed a police report that they were stolen when they arrived at the school, sold the computers and were busted. So there are good cops and bad cops in our society. So I personally feel people have a right to complain about the law enforcement who many think they are above the law because they carry a gun, badge and drive a patrol car.

We all make choices in our lives. Jamele who was in the intended suspect (has never been said if he was the one that actually stole the liquor or not) has lost his life because of a bad choice. His child will grow up without a father ever to have the chance to be there now.

Maybe he should have just stopped the car, maybe the police could have just shot out his tires instead of shooting into the car not knowing who else was in the car and could have been injured or killed to.

I wasn't there. I didn't see what all happened. But no matter what it is sad situation when someone loses their life at such a young age.

[Witness]

I was there when the young man was shot by the officers. Let me tell you that is one imagine that I want to put out of my head. Being from a big city, I would have never thought that I would see this kind of stuff happen in Morrilton. Every night I go to sleep praying for that young man's family and also the officers involved. I know that if it is hard for me to sleep I know it is hard for the officers to sleep since they are the ones that pulled the trigger and ended this young man life. I have replayed this incident over and over in my mind, thinking of what the police could have done differently instead of shooting inside the car. Let me tell you I can not see how the officer was in any danger when the car was not headed toward him, but around him. "Why not shoot the tires, or anything, but to shoot inside the car" and to see him lose control of the car and fall in the ditch. It was just like watching a movie, but in this case it was very real.

[County Resident]

Main point here, we don't know all the facts. What does not seem to be in dispute is that this man,(Lets not call im a child) tried to steal something. It apparently was shoplifting, so I am assuming he didn't point a weapon at a store clerk or anything like that. This by itself does not warrant him ever being shot at. Here is where it gets cloudy, apparently one version of this has him in his car, driving towards officers, not obeying commands to stop. If this occured, he is using the vehicle as a deadly weapon, and the officers would be justified in terminating the threat. At that point, he is no longer a shoplifter, he is an attempted murderer. Again, it is important to note, that this is only if he was driving towards the officers, of course they have the right to protect themselves. They need to get home to their families also. It is a sad situation, if all this man did was shoplift, and then got scared and tried to run, putting himself in a situation to have his life justifiably taken. But if that is how it occured, let us remember, it was his decision to take something without paying for it and not to stop when confronted by officers. I do not know this young mans criminal history, if this was his first offense or not, if he has a history of putting himself in a situation where his illegal activity puts him at risk of having deadly force used against him. I am sure that information will be made public shortly. If the investigation supports this version of events, the police were totally justified, and though I feel bad for the family of the young man, I do understand it was his choices that put him in that situation. If however, he was not using his vehicle as a weapon, and was not endangering the officers then we need to look at criminal charges for the officers, as they are trained to know when deadly force is authorized, and it is to protect their lives, or the lives of others, not to recover a stolen bottle of whiskey. Lets let the facts come out before we pass judgement. All we know is the victim was a thief, that doesnt seem to be in dispute. In this day and age, that doesnt justify a police shooting. But lets find out if the officers were protecting themselves before we condemn them also. If a shoplifting suspect is in a car, driving towards me, and he knows he has been ordered to stop by police officers and that car is still coming towards me. I am going home to my family, if that has to mean he isn't, then I am sorry, he made a bad choice, and bad choices suck.

And just curious, what does the race of either the officers or the criminal have to do with the facts of this case at all?

[Frankie Powell]

No justice, no peace. It is time for black people to take a stand and stop the police from killing our people. That was my little cousin they killed. We need to get the national news involved. Call the NAACP, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN and Fox News Channel to get the story out there. We need to by means necessary take the non-violent approach and get this story out there. If anyone wants to help me, email me at [e-mail].

[Outraged]

Mr. Powell, I know where you are coming from, it is not just the Black People. Is is simply just the people in that county. Everybody is controlled one shape form or another. This place is Corrupt to the hilt. It just sickens me, how they get away with murder! The bottom line, how is this supposed to be controlled. It needs to be started by removing and replacing the ones that aren't doing their jobs. True, there is a few, that are doing their jobs. Most of them are not doing their jobs, it is what you call payoffs. I know there is alot of corrupt counties is the state of Arkansas. Nonetheless, I have heard that Conway County is in the top 3. So, therefore it should be done to a Federal stand point. Those are the ones that can really put a hurting the higher officials in Conway County. As I have seen in past. The cops will just get a slap on the wrist. That really sickens me! I guess there is nothing we can do about it. In my 30 plus years of life, that is all I have seen. Someone doing wrong getting away with it. This needs to stop and the place needs to be cleaned like others have said. But it will not happen. This has been going on since the fifties, it is a never ending crisis!

[Missing Him]

First and foremost I would like to thank everyone that have us on their minds and hearts, with that being said I am a member of this young man's family. There is no reason in this world that that type of force should've been taken on my family member. True all of the facts are not there, but I am positive that he was unarmed and it didn't take 7 bullets(2 to the head) to subdue this 19year old man. We are not saying that he is a saint, but everyone makes mistakes. To the person who signed Witness please please contact me at xseptbabyx@hotmail I really would like to hear everything you have to say.

[Missing Him]

Witness wrote:

I was there when the young man was shot by the officers. Let me tell you that is one imagine that I want to put out of my head. Being from a big city, I would have never thought that I would see this kind of stuff happen in Morrilton. Every night I go to sleep praying for that young man's family and also the officers involved. I know that if it is hard for me to sleep I know it is hard for the officers to sleep since they are the ones that pulled the trigger and ended this young man life. I have replayed this incident over and over in my mind, thinking of what the police could have done differently instead of shooting inside the car. Let me tell you I can not see how the officer was in any danger when the car was not headed toward him, but around him. "Why not shoot the tires, or anything, but to shoot inside the car" and to see him lose control of the car and fall in the ditch. It was just like watching a movie, but in this case it was very real.

To the person who signed Witness please please contact me at xseptbabyx@hotmail I really would like to hear everything you have to say.