Mass Murder Stopped by Man Armed with Rifle in Arkansas

Image screenshot from 5newsonline.com video, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten. Rifle believed to have been used to stop the murder.

U.S.A.-(AmmoLand.com)- In Fort Smith, Arkansas, a young man, for unknown reasons, killed an elderly neighbor and attempted to kill others.  The murder is reported as occurring at the Three Corners Townhouses on 74th Street, at about 7:19 a.m. on 15 May, 2021.

As the murderer fired into the apartment buildings, a resident retrieved a rifle and fired one shot, killing the murderer and stopping the threat.

From 4029tv.com:

Mitchell said calls about the gunfire began coming in at 7:19 a.m. and when police arrived, two people were dead.

According to police, 87-year-old Lois Hicks was shot multiple times inside of her apartment by an individual with a semi-automatic rifle. The shooter, 26-year-old Zachary Arnold continued to shoot his rifle at neighboring apartments.

Police said the shooter and the victim both lived at the complex. Police added that a resident at the complex heard the gunfire and shot and killed Arnold with a hunting rifle as Arnold continued to shoot at neighboring apartments.

As related by eyewitnesses on video from local television stations, the murderer came outside and started firing shots, while demanding people come out of their apartments. Two elderly women came out. When they saw what was happening, they ran back into their apartments.

From a video of the crime scene by local stations, it appears the murderer was outside and the apartment doors were at ground level. One older woman closed her door; the other did not. The murderer followed the victim back into her apartment, and shot her several times with a semi-auto rifle, killing her. From 5newsonline.com:

Another resident, Amber Lane, says Lois Hicks and Arnold live in the same building. She says Hicks and another neighbor went outside to console Arnold, but when they saw the gun, they ran back inside their apartments. 

“There were two older women, both had come out. One of them had ran back in, and the other one ran back in, but she didn’t close her door, then he walked in and did what he did,” says Lane. 

Then the murderer came back out and demanded more people come out. One eyewitness said the murderer shouted, “You are all going to die.”

A woman came out from an apartment further away, and asked if the murderer was “ok”. She was rewarded by shots fired in her direction. A man came out to see what was happening from across the complex. He also had shots fired at him.

A neighbor then retrieved his own rifle, and, as the murderer was firing more shots, fired one shot, killing Zachary Arnold. The distance and exact timing of the shot is not clear. The incident is still under investigation.

Eyewitnesses believed many more people might have been killed if the armed samaritan with a rifle had not shot and killed Zachary.

Police are investigating the shooting to determine what Zachary Arnold’s motive may have been.

Because the shooting was stopped before four unrelated people were killed, the shooting will not be considered a mass killing by the FBI. It will not be included as a mass shooting in the media.

It may be included in the FBI database of “active shooting incidents” stopped by armed people.

Early reporting is often wrong. Careful crime scene analysis and interviews of all available witnesses is the proper police procedure. When the investigation is done, a better understanding of exactly what happened should emerge.


About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

Dean Weingarten

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gregs

i thought this never happened! a good guy with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun. mind blown!

Jonesy

And of course mental illness is never involved in situations like this?

nowr2run

Yes they have been closing all the Mental Hospitals for FREAKIN YEARS & GETTING THE RIGHT HELP OR MEDS. IS A CRAPSHOOT. But building more prisons are doing A OK.

Tionico

read about the Sutherland Springs Texas church massacre.
Two AR pattern rifles, one never should have been bought by th eperp, but because two Air Firce desk jockeys failed to report to NICS< he could and did. Twenty six dead, all at his hands. Neighbour fetched up his own AR pattern rifle, and with one round stopped the massacre.

Yet “THEY” want to take ALL ar pattern and imilar rifles out lf all our hands.

Knute

This incident points out that those who say things like; “Range doesn’t matter because self defense is always up close and personal. You can’t shoot an attacker with a rifle because from that far away he isn’t a threat!”, are incorrect.
They forget(or never knew in the first place) that self-defense also includes the defense OF OTHERS! And that can easily include shots from distance, as in this case.

Darkman

Someone in the area needs to reward this individual for their swift actions and shooting ability. 1 Shot 1 Kill No more Bad Guy. Beyond the death of the innocent Lady. This is the best possible outcome.

nowr2run

I bet you’ll hear about this on the WORLD WIDE NEWS, NOT. The man did VERY GOOD STOPPING THE THREAT YET HE WILL PROBABLY NEVER SEE HIS GUN AGAIN AS USUAL. Ask me how I know after my wife killed herself & they took all our handguns we owned, going on 5 years now. I’m still fighting on getting them back with NO SUCCESS, LOW LIFE, SCUM, LYING POLICE & JUDGES. NON were even the same caliber as she used. I wonder if the ” GOOD GUY ” is in jail or he went home safely ?

Last edited 2 years ago by nowr2run
HLB

I hope you get your guns back. I had to hire a good lawyer to get mine back.

HLB

JSStryker

Hopefully the recent SCOTUS decision will help you get them back.

Tionico

He has his reward.. a job well and quickly done, lives saved.

ANy funds collected might be better applied toward helping the family of the one victim, now gone, family left behind. THEY still need help and support. Mr. Good Guy with a Gun does not.

swmft

and the leftists will want the good Samaritan put on trial because he could have just hurt him a little

Jonesy

Or wrote him a letter.

masterlifter

Thank You Mr. Weingarten for your “informed” reporting. I always enjoy your calm level headed explanations.

Mikial

You cannot hesitate when action is required.

Jeff Knox

The first video linked shows a cop on the balcony where the good guy probably shot from. I was able to identify that balcony and calculate it to be about 30 yards from the patio where the bad guy apparently was shot.
Notice in the enlarged screen-capture above, along with the rifle there are at least two handguns. This looks like the place the police put guns they collected from the good guy, raising the question, Why take his pistols?
Thanks for covering stories like this Dean.

Deplorable Bill

Good job Dean. I suppose I can never expect to hear about this on the evening news. Sad. Clearly this would have been a mass murder had the good guy with a gun not been there. I was a victim of what would have been a mass shooting. Had I not been armed and willing to use it more than a dozen innocent people would have been murdered. The good guy is likely to be in court for the next year or more. The bad guy’s kin and friends will file suit. The prosecuting lawyer will make him look like… Read more »