In the early morning hours of April 14, 1991, 22-year-old Pineville Patrol Officer David Allen Thurman was killed during a confrontation in a grocery store parking lot. Thurman and town marshal Lloyd Perkins approached two men acting suspiciously; one was carrying a tire iron near Thurman’s personal vehicle. The encounter escalated when the men said they needed to get identification from their truck and then attacked the officers. Perkins was struck, possibly with the tire iron, and Thurman was overpowered and shot multiple times, suffering fatal wounds to the back of the head, face, and lower back.

Despite his injuries, Perkins returned to the patrol car and fired as the suspects fled. Two men from Gravette, Arkansas, were arrested a short time later in Arkansas. Court action was reported against both suspects. Does anyone have more information about Thurman, Perkins, or the arrests in April 1991 that could shed light on what happened that night?