Roger William Peckenpaugh

     The Sheriff’s Office has arrested a Baxter County man in connection with an incident that occurred in the Rodney area Friday evening, June 26th, involving shots being fired at vehicle with three persons inside.

     An occupant of the vehicle placed a call to the 911 Call Center at approximately 4:18 PM saying she and others in the vehicle was being followed and chased down Rodney Road by persons in a red Dodge pickup truck and were being shot at.  The victims, while still online with the 911 Center, observe one of the suspects in the truck throw out the firearm into the ditch.  This was later determined to be a shotgun when found and taken into evidence.  The victims continued driving down Rodney Rd to State Highway 177 and turned South toward Izard County.  They pulled into the County Line Liquor Store at 8443 Highway 177 South where the suspects in the Dodge truck rammed into the rear of the car the victims were in.  The victims in the car were an adult male, an adult female, and a 6 year old child.

     Once the crash occurred, the adult male victim from the car got out and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the suspect who was driving the truck.  This suspect was identified as 36 year old ROGER WILLIAM PECKENPAUGH of Baxter CR 217, and he was identified as the person who had been shooting the shotgun.  The two other persons inside the truck jumped out and fled into the woods well before responding officers arrived on scene. 

     During the fight between PECKENPAUGH and the adult male victim in the car, PECKENPAUGH sustained injuries to the extent he required hospitalization.  Sheriff’s Investigators extracted approximately forty (40) shotgun pellets from the rear of the vehicle the victims were occupying.

     PECKENPAUGH told investigators that the persons in the car came to his residence asking to see another person there.  An altercation ensued between PECKENPAUGH and the adult male in the car.  PECKENPAUGH said he shot at the car in order to “mark it” so it could be identified later and that he rammed the car so he could “see what was going on.”

     ROGER WILLIAM PECKENPAUGH was booked into the Detention Center Tuesday afternoon at approximately 4:00 PM on charges of:

Aggravated Assault (3 counts) – Felonies
Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm from a Vehicle – Felony

     He was released after posting $100,000 bond and will appear in the Circuit Court to answer on July 2nd.

     The Arkansas State Police and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission assisted in responding to the call and recovering evidence.  Additional arrests may be made in connection with this incident.

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff