Shots strike Arkansas officer's home; 1 arrested

Monroe County deputies have arrested a man in the shooting of a Clarendon police officer's home Saturday morning.

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Deputies arrested Grant Caldwell, 23, of Clarendon on Monday night, said Courtney Mason, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. Caldwell was charged with four counts of aggravated assault and four counts of terrorist acts.

Caldwell is being held at the Monroe County jail in lieu of $500,000 bond.

Clarendon Police Chief Laura Rash said Caldwell fired five shots at officer Justice Ferrell, three of which went into his house. The incident happened around 7 a.m. Saturday, Mason said.

"He was intending on hitting [the officer], but the officer was not standing outside when [Caldwell] started shooting," Mason said Tuesday afternoon. "The officer has had to arrest him several times before."

Clarendon Mayor Jim Stinson said it was fortunate that no one was injured.

"The officer had just finished the night shift and was returning home," Stinson said. His wife and his stepdaughter were there. One of the bullets landed on the stepdaughter's bed. It went through two walls and landed there on the bed."

Despite recent targeted attacks against police around the nation, Stinson said officials in the town of about 1,600 never considered Saturday's shooting any sort of attack against the local police force.

"We knew it was someone local, and we had great cooperation with the Police Department, the Monroe County sheriff's department and the state police," Stinson said. "I'm glad we don't have [random shootings] happen in our small town. We never have, and we are not going to tolerate it.

"We said it up front he would be caught. This isn't Little Rock or Memphis. We knew he would be found."

Rash said it was unfortunate that Caldwell made such a decision.

"I hate to see what will happen to this young man and how it will impact his life," she said. "I wish he would have made better choices."

State Desk on 07/27/2016

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