Arkansas State Police are investigating two unrelated shootings in recent days — a fatal police shooting in Hughes and another that left a man critically wounded in McCrory.
On Dec. 24, Arkansas State Police said Hughes police and St. Francis County sheriff’s deputies responded to reports of a disturbance outside the Hughes Church of God at 802 Main St. Around 7 p.m., officers encountered a woman with a gun, identified as Allie Kundert, 26, near Main and Benton streets. During the encounter, a Hughes police officer shot Kundert, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Kundert’s body was sent to the state crime laboratory for an autopsy. State police will submit an investigative file to the St. Francis County prosecutor, who will determine if the officer’s use of deadly force was justified.
In a separate incident, McCrory police requested state assistance Dec. 21 after a shooting in the 200 block of Seaman Street. Dennis Wayne Barber, 48, of McCrory, was critically wounded and is hospitalized in Little Rock.
Woodruff County sheriff’s deputies arrested Trent Allen Branscum, 37, of McCrory, who had fled the scene. Branscum was charged with attempted first-degree murder and is being held at the county detention center.
Both investigations are ongoing, state police said.
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