Photo: London Phillips
As more details are being released on a man who reportedly fatally shot a Fayetteville Police officer last week, it has been discovered his encounters with the legal system in Baxter County include more than delinquent personal property taxes. According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 35-year-old London Phillips has had multiple run-ins with law enforcement, including a threat to kill a local officer.
On Friday, a former neighbor of Phillips told the newspaper the former Baxter County resident threatened to shoot her then-fiance, who was not present at the incident three years ago. When she said she was going to call a Norfork Police officer, Phillips allegedly said, “Come. I’ll take him out, too.” The neighbor said Phillips harassed her and her husband on numerous occasions, but she didn’t report the death threat to the police.
Norfork Police Chief Dempsy Thompson said his department has two incident reports on Phillips in its files. In January 2017, Phillips told law enforcement he had been having trouble with the before-mentioned neighbor at the apartment complex they resided in at Norfork. Phillips claimed the husband threatened him and cursed him out on several occasions, and the couple was “lying about him, trying to get him in trouble with the landlord and law enforcement.”
The next incident occurred four days later when Phillips reported his mother’s vehicle was damaged in the apartment complex parking lot. He told police he thought the neighbor’s husband had something to do with it, but the Norfork officer said he didn’t see anyone damage the vehicle in the surveillance video.
The neighbor said she invited Phillips to a barbecue when he first moved in in 2016. He reportedly starting drinking, but she told him she didn’t want him drinking around her children and would prefer if he went upstairs. Phillips reportedly went to his apartment and later returned yelling and cursing at them. She claims Phillips harassed them from that point on, but she considered his threats to be idle.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Phillips lawfully bought a gun in Mountain Home in July 2017. Within the past few months, he obtained a medical marijuana card, barring him from owning a firearm.
Officer Stephen Carr was fatally shot outside police headquarters in Fayetteville last Saturday night. Authorities said Phillips approached Carr’s vehicle and shot him at point-blank range. Two other officers later shot and killed Phillips.
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