Deputy Justin Smith, 60, was shot and killed while serving a misdemeanor warrant for terroristic threatening at a residence on Sawmill Road about five miles north of Mountain View, Arkansas. The incident occurred around 4:00 p.m. on January 2, 2024, when the warrant subject, 52-year-old Clinton Hefton, resisted and opened fire. Responding officers who had been alerted to shots fired found Deputy Smith mortally wounded.

A brief standoff followed and Hefton was taken into custody; he is being held at the Cleburne County Detention Center and has been charged with capital murder. The Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division took over the investigation. Smith was a 24-year law enforcement veteran, 14 years with the Stone County Sheriff’s Department, and was remembered by the community as a loving husband, father, and grandfather.

If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about the events on Sawmill Road that afternoon, please come forward to investigators.