REPORTED ROBBERY SUSPECT WOUNDED BY POLICE OFFICER

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

A reported robbery suspect at Pine Bluff was shot at least once Monday morning by a police officer after the man fired a shot at the officer.

Lt. Bob Rawlinson said the suspect, Corey Lambert, 25, whose last known address was 1113 W. 24th Ave., in Pine Bluff, was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center after being shot in the head.

After having surgery, Lambert was released from JRMC at about 4 p.m., and immediately arrested on probable cause of criminal attempt capital murder, aggravated robbery and theft of property pending an expected court hearing Wednesday and the filing of formal charges by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Rawlinson said the officer, who is assigned to the bicycle patrol and was not identified, was placed on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation into the shooting. The officer was not injured in the incident, Rawlinson said.

The shooting at 29th Avenue and Hickory Street occurred at about 9:15 a.m. and followed the reported robbery of the Stitch and Clean Cleaners at 29th Avenue and Hazel Street a few minutes earlier.

Rawlinson said witnesses reported the suspect ran east on 29th Avenue and told police the man was wearing red warm-up pants, a red pull over nylon top and a black shirt.

He said the officer saw a man wearing the same type of clothing walking east a few minutes after the incident.

“The officer got out of his car and told the man to stop and the man fired a shot at the officer,” Rawlinson said. “The officer returned fire, hitting the suspect at least once in the head.”

A man who lives in the area, who asked not to be identified, said he heard “at least four or five shots in rapid succession.

“A few seconds later, I heard a bunch of sirens coming this way,” he said.

Rawlinson said a dark-colored revolver used to shoot at the officer was recovered at the scene, along with a large amount of cash believed to have been taken during the robbery.

When the investigation is completed, it will be forwarded to Prosecuting Attorney Steve Dalrymple to determine if the shooting was justified.

The shooting was the first involving law enforcement officers in Pine Bluff and Jefferson County since April 20, 2006, when former officer Aaron Blanton, sheriff’s Sgt. Yohance Brunson and former deputy David Wheeler confronted an armed man inside the Tyson plant on Jefferson Parkway.

The man, Julian English, who had been suspended from Tyson, shot another employee before he was shot by the officers. That employee, Ronny Smith, recovered from his wounds, as did English.

Blanton, Brunson and Wheeler received the Medal of Valor from the Arkansas Sheriff’s Association in January 2007 for their actions.

On May 5, 2005, Pine Bluff officers Travis Goforth and Mike Sweeney fatally shot Robert Calvin Larker, 33, of Pine Bluff, after Larker ran from a warehouse that had been broken into at 1801 W. 5th Ave., and was chased into a wooded area near 4th Avenue and University Drive.

Police said Goforth was attacked by Larker in the wooded area, and during the struggle, Larker put his finger on Goforth’s gun, firing several shots blindly before Sweeney fired his weapon one time, striking Larker, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Goforth and Sweeney were named the Outstanding Law Enforcement Officers of the Year by a panel of officers from across the state in October 2005 and received their award from former Attorney General and now Gov. Mike Beebe.