Around 7 a.m. Subj. Jones had come to his father’s home to take some tools and pulled a gun on his father.
Officers began arriving at the home just before 7:10 a.m. and reported Jones had a rifle pointed at law enforcement and may have been wearing some sort of ballistic vest, Hollenbeck said. Authorities were informed Jones had been due in court Wednesday morning on a petition to revoke a suspended sentence, according to the sheriff’s office.
Jones started shooting at officers around 7:15 a.m. and Cooper was shot around 7:40 a.m. A few minutes later, Chief Spells was grazed by a bullet.
To avoid the shots, law enforcement brought in an MRAP vehicle and parked it in front of the house, to use as a shield.
Police sent in a robot from the Ft. Smith Bomb Squad to do surveillance on the home. Jones fired at the robot. The robot was 'shot up.'
Officials attempted to negotiate with Jones.
Immediately when three officers got [to the house] they were basically ambushed. The subj may have been waiting for Police to get there. He may have had full intent to inflict violence against Police.
Other deputies braved gunfire to pull Cooper and Spells from the scene to bring them to EMS, so they could be taken to the hospital, according to the sheriff’s office.
When the shots were fired, [the officers] were pinned down for quite a time before we could get them out and to medical attention.
A Greenwood K-9 was also believed to have been shot during the gunfire exchange with Jones, according to Greenwood Police Chief Will Dawson.
Subj. Jones also shot a police robot and disabled it. He eventually surrendered to authorities around 11:45 a.m. He waved a white towel out the window, walked out of the home with his hands up, and laid down on the ground to be handcuffed, authorities at the scene said. A bomb squad was also called to Jones’ home because investigators heard he had a license to work with explosives.
Highway 253 was blocked in both the north and southbound directions for several hours while the incident unfolded. About 300 personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies responded to aid in the search and then later the negotiation with Jones.