Arkansas State Police troopers and Malvern police Friday afternoon killed a man in a gunfight who was a suspect in a shooting earlier that day near the Hot Spring County Courthouse, according to a state police news release.
The suspect, whom the release Friday evening did not identify, opened fire on officers with an AR-15-style rifle around 2:45 p.m. near the intersection of West Page Avenue and Vine Street in Malvern after a trooper used a "tactical vehicle intervention" to stop him from fleeing in a vehicle at high speed, the release says.
The maneuver is a controlled ramming technique used to spin out a fleeing vehicle, sometimes known as a precision immobilization technique, or PIT.
One person was treated for injuries not thought to be life-threatening suffered in the initial shooting, which happened at a business near the intersection of Locust Street and West Page Avenue, the release states. It wasn't clear from the release what led to that shooting.
Troopers responding to the shooting located the suspect driving east on Moline Street, and he fled when troopers tried to pull him over, the release states. After fleeing about 2 miles, the suspect crossed a Walgreens pharmacy parking lot and went onto West Page Avenue.
The trooper then rammed his vehicle, causing it to come to a halt after striking a utility pole, the release states.
After being shot during the gunfight with state troopers and Malvern police, the suspect was taken to a Little Rock hospital where he was pronounced dead, the release states.
State police will investigate the shooting in line with agency policy and present a case file to a prosecutor, who will determine if the officers acted lawfully.