NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — One man is dead, and a North Little Rock police officer and K-9 officer are injured after a man barricaded himself in a house and ignored pleas for a peaceful arrest.
According to North Little Rock Police, officers first responded to the 3100 block of Donaghey Drive around 10:40 P.M. Saturday in reference to a domestic dispute with a gun and some detectives were still there around 10:40 Sunday morning.
Even though a shootout brought the standoff to a quick end, most of the time overnight was spent trying to prevent one. A cell phone recording from 3:15 A.M. video shows pleas on loop for hours which could not change the mind of one man barricaded with a gun.
“Mr. Bates. This is the North Little Rock Police Department. We’ve got the house surrounded. Step out, put your hands in the air. Step out the front door. Follow the instructions of the officers outside,” said the recording which neighbors say looped for hours.
The man identified in the plea as Mr. Bates was wanted as the suspect for 2 counts of Aggravated Assault on a Family Member and 1 count of 3rd Degree Domestic Battery.
“Please answer the phone. We’re not leaving until we talk to you”, recounted neighbor, Justin Ort, who saw and heard most of the police response from his porch.
Ort chose to go to sleep at 1:30 A.M., but like most of his neighbors he woke up abruptly around 3:30 A.M. when police decided attempts to talk down the suspect failed, and SWAT threw flashbangs into the house.
“We felt it”, Ort remembered. “The loudest thunder you could possibly imagine times 10.”
By this point, officers had already removed the alleged victims from the home and said the suspect was the only remaining person in the home. While police surrounded the outside of the home, several SWAT officers entered, exchanged gunfire with the gunman, and ultimately killed him.
Neighbors insisted North Little Rock Police gave the man every chance possible to make it out alive all night long.
“At the point, you feel for the family. You never know what people got going on,” Ort lamented.
One officer was hit in the shootout but because his injuries were non-life-threatening, he was treated at the scene. A K-9 officer was also shot and transported to an animal hospital for treatment.
Ort said, “The way they put their life on the line every day, we don’t really think about it until stuff like this happens.”
North Little Rock Police were not able to provide an update on the K-9’s condition Sunday night. No one has been identified by police at this point and those officers involved are on paid leave until the investigation is complete.
