By JOAN MCCOY
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher and part-time road deputy who shot and killed his neighbor Nov. 20 was back at work Friday after a state police investigation said the shooting was justified.
“I hate it, but in our line of business, it happens,” Sheriff Jim Roberson said of the death of Michael Perry at the hands of deputy Eric Moore.
By the time Lonoke County Prosecutor Chuck Graham got the call about the shooting early on Nov. 21, investigators had already talked to witnesses whosaid Moore was defending himself.
The shooting was on Clinton Freeman Road near Cabot.
Witnesses said that before the shooting, Perry had tried to run some people down with his vehicle and then rammed Moore’s.
When Moore came out of his home to see what had happened, Perry attacked him with a bar and Moore shot him.
The incident was the first altercation between the two men who had lived as neighbors for some time, according to the prosecutor. Graham said he had been in contact with the state police but the reason for Perry’s aggressive behavior was not yet known.
Reports that he was not taking his prescribed medication will be either confirmed or refuted by the autopsy report that is not yet complete, Graham said.
