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A police officer in Arkansas was shot and killed behind a police department late Saturday night before the suspected shooter was gunned down by responding officers in a nearby alley, according to officials.
The Fayetteville Police Department said in a news release the incident happened around 9:41 p.m. when officers inside the station heard gunshots, went outside and discovered an officer down in a back parking lot and a suspect fleeing the area.
“It appears the suspect came into the back parking lot and just executed my officer,” Fayetteville Police Chief Mike Reynolds said at a brief news conference.
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Reynolds told reporters that the suspect was chased into an alley between the police department and the city prosecutor’s office. Officers then “engaged the suspect,” and shots were fired, injuring the suspect.
A police officer in Fayetteville, Ark., was shot and killed Saturday night outside a police department.
(KFTA/KNWA)
Emergency medical personnel responded to the scene, but both the officer and suspected shooter died of their injuries.
Reynolds, who told reporters he didn’t know of a motive, said that the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were working the crime scene.
“These are the details as I know,” Reynolds said.
Fayetteville Police Chief Mike Reynolds said at a news conference it appeared the suspect came into the parking lot behind the police station and “just executed my officer.”
The names of the officer killed and suspect were not immediately released, and neither were the names of the officers who engaged the suspected shooter. Police said in a news release that several law enforcement agencies would be involved in the investigation.
The officer was by his patrol car when he was shot and killed, FOX16 reported.
The gunfire sparked a scare at the nearby city square, where a crowd was taking in the Lights of the Ozarks installation and heard the gunshots, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Police stressed there was no threat to the public.
“We think about stuff like this and we know it could happen here, but you hope it never does,” police spokesman Sgt. Anthony Murphy told the newspaper. “It happened here. Now we’re here to pick up the pieces.”
The fatal Arkansas shooting followed the shooting death of a Houston police officer Saturday night, who was shot multiple times while responding to a domestic violence call.
Working in law enforcement has been one of the most dangerous jobs in America. As of early December, 113 officers had died in the line of duty this year, with causes running the gamut from vehicular accidents and medical emergencies to homicides, according to data from the Officer Down Memorial Page.
Fox News’ Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.