Gov. Asa Hutchinson has ordered state flags to be flown at half-staff in memory of Lt. Patrick Weatherford, the Newport police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty Monday.
On Tuesday morning, the Newport Police Chief announced a gunman, a 18 year-old teenager, was in custody.
Details on the arrest of the suspect haven’t yet been released but Inside Fort Smith has learned the an 18-year-old suspect by the name of Tyler Jermiale Calamese, 18, was booked into the Jackson County detention center on capital murder charges on Tuesday.
Calamese turned himself into authorities on Tuesday, according to one source.
Calamese is expected to appear for a bond hearing in Jackson County District Court at 9 a.m. Wednesday where he is expected to be formally charged.
Weatherord responded to a call of a vehicle break-in at approximately 6 p.m. near the area of Bowen Street and Newport Avenue. When Weatherford arrived at the scene, he saw an individual fleeing the area.
Weatherford and other Newport officers chased the suspect on foot, entering a residential area. Police say the suspect then turned and fired a gun at police, hitting and killing Weatherford. Officials say Weatherford died at a Newport hospital a short time after.
He was a 15-year department veteran of the department. A lieutenant in the criminal investigations division at the Newport police department he had studied criminal justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and attended the FBI National Academy, according to his Linkedin profile. He was pursuing his masters degree in criminal justice.
Late Monday night, a procession of law enforcement vehicles escorted the officer’s body from Newport to the State Crime Lab in Little Rock.
On Tuesday morning, the Independence County Dive Team was called to Newport to assist in a search for the suspect’s gun, which police say is believed to have been thrown into a lake in the Remmel Park area.