Details and video footage released in killing of Fayetteville police officer

 

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Friday released new details and video footage of the shooting that killed Fayetteville police officer Stephen Carr.

Carr, 27, was waiting for his partner before beginning a night shift when he was approached by a suspect and shot “point blank” while sitting inside his patrol car just before 10 p.m. on Dec. 7.

An autopsy from the state medical examiner found that Carr was shot 10 times in the head. Any of those shots alone would have been fatal.

The Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the shooting, posted five videos from the incident on its Facebook page.

“We have hesitated to release the attached video of what transpired that night due to the heinous and shocking nature of this crime, but in an effort to keep the public informed of exactly what happened that night, we are releasing video of the incident along with the results of the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s preliminary findings,” the post states.

Officials said the videos were shown to Carr’s family before being released to the public.

Police said the suspect, London T. Phillips, 35, was shot six times by Cpl. Seay Floyd and Officer Natalie Eucce, who along with Sgt. James Jennings chased Phillips into an alley shortly after discovering Carr had been shot.

Per department policy, Floyd and Eucce and are on paid administrative leave until the investigation is complete. Officials said Jennings didn’t fire his weapon.

Searches of Phillips’ social media accounts indicate he was “interested in anti-law enforcement groups,” the post states.

The weapon Phillips used was a 9mm semi-automatic handgun that he legally purchased in 2017. He had one full box of ammunition containing 50 rounds and a second box with 32 rounds.

Preliminary finding show that Phillips fired a total of 16 rounds and had reloaded his gun with another full magazine containing 17 rounds.

In the first video, Phillips is seen walking east along the sidewalk in front of Fayetteville City Hall on Mountain Street just before the shooting.

The second video is from the back parking lot of the police department. Carr is shown sitting in the front driver seat of a patrol vehicle facing the building with the headlights on. Phillips is first seen walking south on Block Avenue. He then crosses in front of a car that had just parked with the headlights on, and proceeds west, crossing Block Avenue, and then continues west into the alleyway behind the police department. He approaches Carr’s vehicle from behind.

The post stated that the person shown walking into the alleyway after Carr was shot is an off-duty Fayetteville police officer, and that Floyd is seen exiting department’s northwest door.

In the third video, Eucce and Jennings are exiting the department’s northeast door.

The fourth video shows Phillips going south into the alleyway between the police department and the Fayetteville District Court building.

The fifth video shows an overhead view from City Hall of Floyd, Eucce and Jennings searching for the shooter, and then engaging him in the alleyway.

The post states that the investigation is continuing and that more information will be released when possible.