By CHUCK BARTELS, Associated Press Writer Chuck Bartels, Associated Press Writer – 8 mins ago
WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. – Two police officers doing anti-drug work along a busy Arkansas interstate were shot and killed by two men with AK-47s on Thursday, and the suspects later died in a separate shootout with police in a crowded Walmart parking lot, authorities said.
West Memphis Police Inspector Bert Shelton said officers were “running drug interdiction” on Interstate 40 in east Arkansas when they pulled over a white van with Ohio license plates. The two men got out of the van and opened fire on the officers with AK-47s, he said. Brandon Paudert, the son of West Memphis’ police chief, died at the scene and Bill Evans died at a hospital.
Traffic stopped as authorities searched vehicles on Interstate 40 looking for the suspects, who were later spotted in the parking lot of a nearby Walmart. Dozens of officers swarmed the van and both suspects were shot and killed, authorities said. The Crittenden County sheriff and his chief deputy were wounded in the shootout.