Fort Smith police: Man arrested on his way to Central Mall to carry out shooting, possessing child porn
FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Fort Smith police say they arrested a man that was on his way to carry out a shooting at Central Mall and later for having child sex abuse material on his phone.
Rodney Sheffield, 41, of Barling is charged with terroristic act, aggravated assault, second-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and four counts of pandering or possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child.
According to court documents, police received an anoymnous tip on April 26 that Sheffield was driving to Central Mall with the intent to carry out a shooting before killing himself.
Patrol officers found Sheffiled’s car swerving in and out of traffic on Rogers Avenue around 5:24 p.m. They stopped him near Rogers Avenue and Meandering Way and found a rifle in the passenger seat of the car. After patting him down, police found two loaded magazines in his pockets.
Court documents say Sheffield was asked to turn off his car. While doing so, he rolled back the vehicle and hit an officer’s car.
Sheffield was then arrested. Police talked to his mother who said he texted her a picture of the rifle found in his car with the caption “Let’s see what this will do. Here we go.” Sheffield also sent her audio recordings saying his family could not come to his funeral and that they needed to watch the news.
Court documents say Sheffield’s phone was seized and police found a folder with 37 sexually explicit images of children.
Videos found on the phone showed children under the age of 10.
Aric Mitchell with the Fort Smith Police Department says Sheffield was briefly released on bail and arrested again a short time later on additional federal charges.
According to the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office website, Sheffield was released on bond.
Mitchell expressed his thanks for the anonymous tip. “It’s just a reminder of how crucial community involvement is in helping us do our jobs.”
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