West Memphis, Ark. shootout has Clinton County connection
By
-
Two West Memphis police officers were shot and killed Thursday, including the son of the police chief, during a traffic stop along a busy cross-country interstate highway, The Associated Press has reported.
The slain officers were Brandon Paudert, the chief's son, and Bill Evans.
According to the AP, the younger Paudert was assigned to the drug unit but it wasn't immediately known why the officers pulled over a white van with Ohio plates.
Cincinnati radio station WLW said the van the suspects were driving had Ohio license plates and was reportedly registered to a church in New Vienna in Clinton County.
"After the two officers were killed, the two suspects were also shot dead, in an exchange of gunfire that left the local sheriff and his chief deputy wounded," the AP said. At a news conference outside a Memphis, Tenn., hospital, a spokesman said Crittenden County Sheriff Richard Busby and his chief deputy, W.A. Wren were wounded.
Busby and Wren shot and killed the suspects in a Wal-Mart parking lot near the intersection of Interstates 40 and 55 in West Memphis, Ark. Both highways are major cross-country interstates.
News agencies are reporting local ties to a shootout in West Memphis, Ark., that left two police officers dead Thursday, including the son of the police chief, during a traffic stop along a busy cross-country interstate highway, The Associated Press has reported. A short time later, the suspects were shot and killed in a separate shootout, the AP reports.
The slain officers were Brandon Paudert, the chief's son, and Bill Evans.
According to the AP, the younger Paudert was assigned to the drug unit but it wasn't immediately known why the officers pulled over a white van with Ohio plates.
Cincinnati radio station WLW said the van the suspects were driving had Ohio license plates and was reportedly registered to a church in New Vienna in Clinton County.
According to WLWT News 5, the van is registered to the House of God's Prayer in New Vienna. A phone number for the church could not immediately be located.
Highland County Sheriff Ron Ward told The Highland County Press he believed the "church" was no longer operating, but that it was once part of a white supremacist organization that was under law enforcement surveillance in the mid-1990s.
"We're told the van's tags came back to that 'church," Ward said. But that doesn't mean the tags were legitimate, he said. "After the two officers were killed, the two suspects were also shot dead, in an exchange of gunfire that left the local sheriff and his chief deputy wounded," the AP said. At a news conference outside a Memphis, Tenn., hospital, a spokesman said Crittenden County Sheriff Richard Busby and his chief deputy, W.A. Wren were wounded.
According to WLWT News 5, the van is registered to the House of God's Prayer in New Vienna. A phone number for the church could not immediately be located.
Highland County Sheriff Ron Ward told The Highland County Press he believed the "church" was no longer operating, but that it was once part of a white supremacist organization that was under law enforcement surveillance in the mid-1990s.
"We're told the van's tags came back to that 'church," Ward said. But that doesn't mean the tags were legitimate, he said. "After the two officers were killed, the two suspects were also shot dead, in an exchange of gunfire that left the local sheriff and his chief deputy wounded," the AP said. At a news conference outside a Memphis, Tenn., hospital, a spokesman said Crittenden County Sheriff Richard Busby and his chief deputy, W.A. Wren were wounded.
Busby and Wren shot and killed the suspects in a Wal-Mart parking lot near the intersection of Interstates 40 and 55 in West Memphis, Ark., the AP said.
According to a deputy who answered the phone at the Clinton County Sheriff's Office, "We're trying to check on it ourselves. We have been contacted by (people from) Arkansas and everywhere in between. We can't give any information because we don't have any."
[[In-content Ad]]According to a deputy who answered the phone at the Clinton County Sheriff's Office, "We're trying to check on it ourselves. We have been contacted by (people from) Arkansas and everywhere in between. We can't give any information because we don't have any."