YELL COUNTY (KFSM) — A Yell County deputy was among three people who were killed in a shooting on Thursday morning (May 11), and the shooting suspect has been taken into custody.
Lieutenant Kevin Mainhart, 46, was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop a little after 7 a.m., said Bill Sadler, Arkansas State Police public information officer. The incident happened at the intersection of State Highway 27 and Slow Fork Road near Chickalah in Yell County.
The suspect has been identified as James Bowden, 32, of Dardanelle. At this time, Bowden is facing three counts of capital murder, according to ASP.
Mainhart was on his way to a domestic disturbance call on Gum Springs Road, not far from the traffic stop. A civilian saw that the deputy had been shot and notified police.
The bodies of Rita Miller, 61, and Ciera Miller, 17 were found at the Gum Springs Road address, according to an ASP release. Bowden is believed to have fatally shot both women.
Bowden held a woman, Haley McHam, 31, as hostage during a five-hour standoff with police at another residence nearby. Sadler said Bowden let McHam go during one point in the standoff.
He was taken into custody about 2:45 p.m.
Mainhart had spent five years in the Yell County Sheriff’s Office, and has been a law enforcement officer for more than 20 years, according to an ASP press release. He previously retired from the West Memphis Police Department.
