A reserve Johnson County deputy was fatally shot overnight while confronting a suspect in a burglary, authorities said.
Arkansas State Police said Sonny Smith, 42 and an 11-year veteran of the agency, died after being shot about 2:30 a.m. in eastern Johnson County about 15 miles east of Clarksville.
The suspected shooter, identified as Fred Kauffeld, 51, of Clarksville has been arrested, police added.
Herman H. Houston, Johnson County judge, said he believed the deputy was chasing a burglary suspect in the eastern part of the county when he was shot.
"It's just a very sad situation," he said. "The attorney general has already called me with condolences. So much is going on nationwide and then something like this happens right here in such a close-knit community."
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said in a news release that the sheriff's office was first called around 1 a.m. about a possible burglar on County Road 1723. Smith was among the deputies searching the area when he confronted an individual later identified as Kauffeld, police said.
The two reportedly traded gunfire and Smith was hit at least once, according to the news release. He died a short time later at a hospital.
Kauffeld was treated for minor injuries and then booked into the Pope County jail, police said.
A woman who answered the phone at the Johnson County sheriff's office directed all calls to state police.
The shooting comes during National Police Week, a nationwide observance honoring police officers killed in the line of duty.
Check back for updates and see Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.