A Renfroe Street apartment complex was the site of a Tuesday night shooting involving a suspect from Monday’s Magnuson Hotel homicide and an agent of local law enforcement.
The suspect later died as a result of the encounter with authorities.
The identity of the deceased has not yet been released by officials, but he was a person of interest in the Monday evening hotel shooting that fatally wounded 24-year-old Damarras Akheen “Squirt” Henderson of El Dorado. Henderson also had Magnolia connections.
According to an early Wednesday morning media statement, Columbia County Sheriff Mike Loe said a CCSO deputy at 11:10 p.m. Tuesday arrived at Renfroe Street’s Preston Apartments in Magnolia to arrest the suspect in Henderson’s death. He was to be charged first-degree murder. It’s unclear whether the suspect was a resident of the apartment complex, according to the report.
The sheriff said shots were fired and the suspect wounded. The suspect was transported to Magnolia Regional Medical Center where he later died, the statement said. The deputy –- now on administrative leave -– was not injured.
The officer-involved incident, by standard protocol, is now under investigation by the Arkansas State Police, according to Loe. Once complete, the district prosecutor’s office will handle the findings.
Henderson was found dead Monday at E. Main Street’s Magnuson Hotel after a 6:40 p.m. report of a shot fired in the area. The injured Henderson, according to a Tuesday Magnolia Police statement, then entered a room at the rear, northern side of the building and died before authorities discovered him.
Monday also saw a noon-hour homicide on Norma Street, where Magnolia resident Jarious Shaw was shot in the chest. Loe on Wednesday said the 22-year-old was a resident of the Preston Apartments.
The suspect in the Shaw homicide, as of Wednesday morning, is still at large.
The Monday shooting deaths are stated as unrelated, according to authorities.
With Tuesday night’s shooting, Magnolia has now been the site of three deaths in a span of less than 36 hours.
Note: Mike McNeill contributed to this article.