The Arkansas State Police is investigating an officer involved shooting wherein a Beebe man died on the evening of March 13.
State Police say 24-year-old Dustin Black died after he was shot by a Lonoke County Sheriff’s Department deputy and an Austin Police officer.
According to police, the sheriff’s deputies had been looking for Black after he reportedly fired a shotgun at a woman in Austin at around 8:00 p.m. The woman was not hit by the gunfire, police say. Police say Black fled on foot from the scene of the crime at 24 Seminole Circle.
Just before 10:30 p.m., law enforcement located Black outside near the same domicile where the shooting occurred earlier in the evening. Police say that Black was still armed with the shotgun, and the Austin Police officer and a sheriff’s deputy gave multiple orders for Black to drop the gun.
Police say Black then raided the gun toward the police officer and the deputies, who then fired their guns and wounded him. Officers performed life-sustaining aid for Black as an ambulance arrived, police say. There were no officers injured in the confrontation with Black.
According to police, Black died at 11:33 p.m. while being treated at a North Little Rock hospital. His body has been transported to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory where a manner and a cause of death will be determined.
Special agents of the state police’s criminal investigation division are prepping an investigative case file that will be turned over to the Lonoke County prosecuting attorney, who will then determine if the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer was consistent with state laws.