By Keith Inman
Jonesboro Sun
JONESBORO — An off-duty police officer shot one of two men who were attempting to rob a Jonesboro restaurant early Monday, police said.
The suspects escaped but not for long. One is in the Craighead County Detention Center, while a second is in a Memphis hospital, Detective Mike Branscum of the Jonesboro Police Department said late Monday.
Patrolman Bobby Duff of the Arkansas State University Police Department and his girlfriend were the only customers in the International House of Pancakes, 2411 South Caraway Road, when the masked intruders entered the restaurant shortly after 4 a.m., Jonesboro police reported.
One man, armed with a semiautomatic pistol, pointed the gun at the store manager, demanding that she open the cash register, Duff said. The second man, armed with a bat, saw the customers, pointed the bat at them and ordered them to drop their cell phones, put their hands up and get on the floor.
“Duff stated that he then raised his weapon, fired two rounds, hitting the subject with the bat,” Patrolman Josh Wilcoxson wrote in his report. “He then turned toward the subject with the pistol pointed at the manager, fired a third round … and fired a fourth round through interior glass as the two subjects were fleeing out of the restaurant to keep them from returning fire.”
One man was shot in the hand and hip, police said.
Duff shot the robbers with his personal .380-caliber handgun. The off-duty officer was not injured, authorities said.
Randy Martin, interim chief of police at UPD, said certified law enforcement officers are allowed to carry firearms on their persons in Arkansas. It is their option whether they carry a personal firearm or a duty weapon issued by the law enforcement agency where they work.
Store surveillance cameras captured video of the incident from three angles, police said. A camera at Sam’s Club captured video of the two suspects leaving in a Jeep Liberty.
JPD Detective Lt. Rick Elliott said West Memphis police notified him about three hours after the incident that a gunshot victim had arrived at a West Memphis hospital. The patient was transferred to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis.
The identities of the suspects were not released.
Elliott praised Duff’s actions, saying he did as he was trained to do. Martin added that Duff has been employed by UPD since January 2007. He had not been involved in a shooting incident before.
“He has been placed on administrative leave with pay, which is part of our policy any time an officer is involved in a deadly force incident,” Martin said. “He will remain in that status until we can have an administrative review on the findings of the investigation.”
Jonesboro Sun staff writer Sherry F. Pruitt contributed to this report.
