A detention officer in Arkansas was fatally shot while a male prisoner was being booked into the Perry County Jail, according to a statement from Arkansas State Police.
Perry County Detention Officer Jeremiah Story, 21, of Oppelo, died at a Conway hospital early today after he was shot by an inmate who was in the process of being booked into jail about 10:20 p.m. Wednesday.
State police special agents were called to the jail by the local sheriff’s department authorities to begin the investigation, which continued this morning. Authorities report Story was shot with a pistol as he stood in a bathroom where the inmate was changing out of civilian clothes into jail issued attire.
A witness to the shooting was able to disarm Roderick Lewis, 37, who was later transferred to the Faulkner County Detention Center at Conway while state police special agents continued their investigation. Lewis, of North Little Rock, had been arrested by Perry County sheriff’s deputies earlier in the evening and was to be detained on drug and paraphernalia charges.