UPDATE, Sept. 20, 2022, 9:50 a.m.:
The Arkansas State Police says two separate shooting incidents in Paris, Ark. (Logan County) yesterday (Sept. 19) appear to be connected as a murder-suicide.
According to a release this morning from the state police, local law enforcement authorities asked the agency to investigate the incidents.
The release said Paris police officers responded to the Sonic Drive-in on East Walnut Street around 12 p.m. and found George A. Poole, 22, an employee at the drive-in restaurant, shot. Poole was pronounced dead at the scene.
A short time later, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a location on Kalamazoo Road, about five miles from the restaurant, where they encountered Joshua D. Malagon, sitting inside a parked vehicle.
State police say Malagon, 20, who had been identified as a suspect in the earlier shooting, refused commands from the deputies to exit the vehicle.
When deputies heard a single gunshot from inside the vehicle, they approached and found Malagon wounded and began providing life-saving measures until emergency medical personnel arrived. Malagon was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The bodies of both men are being transported to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory to officially determine the manner and cause of their deaths, state police say.
Upon completion of their investigation, agents from the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division will turn over a case file to the Logan County prosecuting attorney for review.
EARLIER:
Logan County authorities report one person is dead and one is arrested after a Monday shooting at the Paris, Ark. Sonic Drive-In.
According to the Logan County Sheriff’s Department, Arkansas State Police investigators are working on the case.
In a post on their Facebook page this afternoon, the department said: “There was a shooting today at the Sonic in Paris. The victim is deceased. The suspect has been located and is in custody. The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division is investigating.”
The names of those involved have not been released.
Paris is located roughly 60 miles east of Fort Smith.
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