KEY POINTS

  • An unnamed officer has been killed in the line of duty
  • The suspect is a 29-year-old Black male now in custody
  • The suspect was also using the name L.T. Truitt

The suspect in the fatal shooting of a police officer in Arkansas, Latarius Howard, is in custody Friday after an hours-long manhunt that brought in federal authorities.

Brad Rogers, a correspondent for ABC affiliate Local 24, reported the breaking news from his Twitter account.

The hunt in the western Arkansas city of Helena-West Helena for the 29-year-old Howard began late Thursday after he allegedly fatally shot an area police officer.

Police in Helena-West Helena, near the Arkansas border with Mississippi, said officers were searching for a suspect from a Nov. 1 shooting. The fatal shooting happened at an area hotel after officers were trying to make arrests related to that earlier crime, ABC’s Local 24 reported Thursday.

Howard is a Black male also known as L.T. Truitt, according to WREG, a regional CBS affiliate.

Late Thursday, special agents with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Little Rock said they were responding to the fatal police shooting.

U.S Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., said the news that an officer was killed in the line of duty was heartbreaking.

“Our men and women in uniform do all they can to keep our neighborhoods and communities safe, and this event was no different,” he said on Twitter.

Arkansas police searching for 29-year-old Latarius Howard involved in fatal police shooting.
Arkansas police searching for 29-year-old Latarius Howard. Helena-West Helena Police Department
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