Police: Teen wrongly identified as suspect in death of off-duty Arkansas officer

The West Memphis Police Department has dropped murder charges against a teenager authorities had hours earlier identified as a suspect in the killing of an off-duty Arkansas officer.

Capt. Joe Baker said the 19-year-old was initially arrested Tuesday after two witnesses came forward and identified him as being linked to the fatal shooting of Oliver Johnson Jr., a 25-year-old officer with the Forrest City Police Department.

When West Memphis police questioned the teen in the shooting and were able to corroborate an alibi, the charges, which included capital murder, were dropped, Baker said.

“We’re still looking into why that misinformation was made,” he said, noting that because of the 19-year-old’s reported gang ties, witnesses may have “just assumed it was him.”

Johnson was at his home at the Meadows Apartment complex, 1101 S. Avalon St. in West Memphis, around 4 p.m. Saturday when people were firing shots outside.

Multiple rounds struck the building's facade, and one bullet hit Johnson in the upper torso, Baker said. The bullet was likely not intended for him, according to authorities.

Read Wednesday's Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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