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| Updated: 1/17/2012 5:45 pm |
Published: 1/17/2012 8:21 am |
LITTLE ROCK, AR - A man who confronted police with a loaded gun died after police shot him while trying to execute an early morning drug search warrant in Little Rock.
Lt. Terry Hastings with Little Rock Police says SWAT officers entered the home at 1322 S. Tyler at approximately 6:30am Tuesday morning and were met by Angelo Clark, 31, holding an AK-47 rifle at the top of a short set of stairs. According to police, Clark pointed his weapon at officers and was shot and killed.
"We serve up to 200 search and seizure warrants on drug houses every year," Hastings says. "But rarely do we have an incident like this."
LRPD says today's search and seizure warrant was the result of a weeks long investigation by undercover narcotics officers and included a controlled buy of crack cocaine from Clark at his residence.
Friends and family of Clark quickly gathered at the scene after the shooting. Many became frustrated with police as they moved them further from the scene.
Earl Burton says he Clark was his cousin.
"I've never seen him sell drugs, never," Burton told FOX16 News. "If the police did buy some drugs there they bought it from somebody else."
After homicide detectives completed the investigation, officers executed the drug search warrant.
No cocaine was located, however police say they found a small grow operation of marijuana, marijuana plants and some scales along with another handgun and some ammunition.
A woman and child were inside the home at the time of the shooting but were uninjured.
The officer who fired the shot, who police say has been part of the SWAT team since 2000, is on paid administrative leave pending an internal affairs investigation into the shooting.
Clark had prior felony convictions for simultaneous possession of drugs and a firearm in addition to theft in 2000. He was released from the Arkansas Department of Corrections in 2003.
