On a summer morning in a rural, wooded area near Greenwood, Arkansas, a call to law enforcement set in motion a tragic chain of events. Sebastian County Sheriff's Corporal Bill Cooper, a 66-year-old White male and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, was one of the officers who responded to a domestic disturbance on August 10, 2016. The call concerned a 35-year-old man, Billy Monroe Jones, who had reportedly armed himself with a rifle and threatened his father.
Upon their arrival, the officers were met with gunfire in what was described as an ambush.
Corporal Cooper was struck in the neck during the exchange of gunfire. Despite the immediate danger, fellow officers managed to pull him from the scene to get him medical attention. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to his injuries later that day. Another officer, Hackett Police Chief Darrell Spells, was also wounded, suffering a graze wound to the head. A police K-9 was also shot but was later found alive.
The shooter, Billy Monroe Jones, barricaded himself inside his home, leading to a standoff with law enforcement that lasted for over four hours. During the standoff, Jones also shot at and disabled a police robot. He eventually surrendered to authorities and was taken into custody. Investigators later revealed that Jones was scheduled to be in court that day for a hearing regarding a previous suspended sentence.
Following his arrest, Billy Monroe Jones faced charges of capital murder and multiple counts of attempted capital murder. In November 2016, he pleaded guilty to the charges. As a result of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, avoiding a potential death sentence. The law enforcement community and the residents of Sebastian County mourned the loss of Corporal Cooper, who had served with the sheriff's office for 19 years and was nearing retirement.
