Two corrections officers were assaulted and warning shots were fired by a guard when at least three Tucker Maximum Security inmates managed to escape from
The fact that shots were fired wasn’t disclosed by prison officials to State Police officers who arrived to investigate. That came out today after the Arkansas Times inquired about a tip on the incident.
In a revised statement, Correction Department spokesman Solomon Graves said a corrections officer “fired three (3) warning shots which did not strike any individuals.”
The shots were fired during a breakout of at least three prisoners from individual holding units in a recreation area.
The shots followed assault of two correctional officers attempting to handcuff an inmate, Graves said. “The two officers were assaulted by other inmates who were attempting [to] flee the recreation area. During the incident, at least one other inmate gained access to a secured recreation pen and assaulted another inmate.”
The inmates are held in
“The State Police investigation was still active,” spokesman Bill Sadler said. “But, nobody offered any information about shots being fired.”
“Based on your question and some additional questioning of ADC we learned this afternoon that 3 shots were fired,” Sadler said.
The assault
When called initially by the Times this morning, prison spokesman Graves said he was aware that some inmates had “managed to slip out of their cages” but said that no shots had been fired. Later in the afternoon, he revised the statement to say shots had been fired.
Asked why the State Police hadn’t been told about gunfire initially, Graves said, “The Department will be conducting an internal investigation into the incident, parallel to ASPs investigation, to include the firearm discharge. Answering those questions now would be premature.”
Neither the injured inmates nor injured correctional officers required outside medical treatment, Graves said. The State Police gave a similar account of injuries.