FORT SMITH, Ark. — The Oct. 25 shooting of an Indiana fugitive by two Fort Smith police officers has been deemed justified by Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Shue.
The Fort Smith Police Department (FSPD) issued a statement the night of the shooting claiming Michael Lee Fairburn, who was described as a fugitive out of Indiana and a "violent sex offender", was shot by two officers in self-defense.
FSPD said three officers were attempting to arrest Fairburn when he reportedly "brandished a knife as officers tried to take him into custody, and threatened to kill the officers." The incident happened in a wooded area across from Shamrock Liquor in Fort Smith.
Shue said in his investigation that Fairburn did indeed threaten the officers, brandish a knife, and "aggressively walk towards (and lunged towards) the officers."
At one point, according to Shue, Fairburn ran from officers and threw his knife at one of the officers. Shue said Fairburn was holding a second knife when officers shot him.
The report goes on to say that one of the officers involved in the arrest that night had a run-in with Fairburn the day prior on Oct. 24, where Fairburn fled from the officer and ended up allegedly finding a BB gun and "several knives that were stuck in a piece of wood."
An eyewitness told 5NEWS that Fairburn would regularly visit a local business and threaten customers with knives. The witness said at one point Fairburn "ended up hitting [somebody] with a machete."
Shue said that videos of the incident showed the officers identifying themselves to Fairburn, who then "states multiple times that he is going to kill them" and refuses to drop the knife when the officers ask him to.
The day after the shooting, Arkansas State Police told 5NEWS that Fairburn was expected to survive after undergoing surgery at UAMS in Little Rock.
Ultimately, Shue said that after tasing Fairburn was unsuccessful, officers were "confronted with an armed and dangerous assailant ... I could just as easily be writing a letter to the family of [the officers] regarding their homicide as I am trying to evaluate the use of force by an officer to defend himself against one of our citizens."
Neither officer who shot Fairburn was found to have used unreasonable deadly force.
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