An investigation by the Arkansas State Police into the shooting death of a Mountain Home man by law enforcement officers at a Bull Shoals residence has been ruled justified. Debby Stanuch has this report by court reporter, Philip Launius.
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The death of 33-year-old Kyle Riggs of Mountain Home — shot by law officers after he fired at them in the early morning hours of February 19th — was a justified use of deadly force, 14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge said Tuesday.
The investigation into the shooting was conducted by the Arkansas State Police and produced a file, more than three-inches thick, that was reviewed in detail by Ethredge in coming to his decision.
The incident leading to Riggs death began around 3:42 a.m. on February 19th. According to the State Police investigation, Riggs had several run-ins with family members at different locations and eventually wound up at a residence in Bull Shoals. The investigation indicates the choice of the Bull Shoals residence was apparently random.
Riggs was said to have beaten a man in the residence. Law officers from the Bull Shoals Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the residence. At one point, there were at least five officers on the scene, according to the State Police report.
Officers attempted to negotiate with Riggs in an effort to have him exit the house and surrender. The officers were concerned that the wife of the man who had been beaten was still in the residence. They entered the home to both check on the wife and to subdue and arrest Riggs. They went into the master bedroom area where Riggs fired shots at the officers and they returned fire. Riggs was hit multiple times. He was transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center where he died. His body was sent to the State Medical Examiners Office and the case was turned over to special agents with the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division.
None of the officers, including those directly involved in the shooting, were physically injured during the incident.
Ethredge said the investigation into the deadly force incident indicated the officers had done all they could to talk Riggs into surrendering and had little choice but to defend themselves when fired on by Riggs, particularly given the other incidents which had happened leading up to the deadly confrontation
Arkansas law permits law officers to use deadly force “to defend himself or herself or a third person from what the officer reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of deadly physical force.”
Riggs has had previous run-ins with the law in both Arkansas and Missouri. Electronic court records from both Baxter and Marion Counties show a total of 12 cases – some criminal and some related to domestic situations – stretching back to 2008.
In a February 24th article following the shooting, the Ozark County Times reported on a conversation Ozark County Sheriff Darrin Reed had with Riggs during an investigation which led to Riggs being charged with burglarizing two Gainsville businesses in late 2015.
In the same time frame, Riggs had also broken into and stolen items from a Mountain Home tire store.
Riggs received five years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections in late January 2016 to run concurrent with sentences handed for crimes in both Arkansas and Missouri.
Reed reported Riggs as being emotional during the talk, recalling that he really wanted to get his life straightened out. The Ozark County Sheriff said Riggs admitted his methamphetamine use was keeping him from being the father he always wanted to be
Riggs is reported as saying he knew he was going to prison for his crimes but told Sheriff Reed once he got out of prison, he intended to put drug use and criminal activity behind him.
Tragically for all concerned, he did not succeed in meeting that goal.
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