Sandy MalonePine Bluff, AR – Two Pine Bluff paramedics were shot multiple times early on Thursday morning and one returned fire and killed the gunman.
The incident occurred just before 4:40 a.m. on Dec. 17 when Easi Ambulance Service paramedics responded to a residence in the 1400-block of West 23rd Avenue to render aid to a woman who was injured in a domestic incident, KARK reported.
Police said the call was not dispatched as a domestic incident or officers would have responded to the scene ahead of the paramedics.
The police report said the paramedics were treating a 20-year-old woman with an injured knee in the back of their ambulance when her boyfriend, 22-year-old Kevin Curl Jr., approached them aggressively, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Paramedic John Spriggs Sr, 21, told police he asked Curl to back up but the angry man refused.
Spriggs said Curl asked the paramedics what they were going to do about it, shoved one of them, and then pulled out a gun, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Police said Curl shot each of the paramedics three times in the chest, pelvis, and abdomen.
Despite being critically wounded, Spriggs pulled his own sidearm and returned fire, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Curl was struck by at least one gunshot to the chest.
We are saddened to hear that two paramedics with Easy Ambulance Service in Pine Bluff were shot today in the line of duty. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, their families & all first responders in the city of Pine Bluff. #prayersforpinebluff #hereos #firstresponders pic.twitter.com/r7SVL5W6cW
— Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office (@SheriffPulaski) December 17, 2020
Police said the gunman was pronounced dead on the floor of his residence, KTHV reported.
His father told police that he was in the back of his house when he heard his son screaming “Dad.”
Kevin Curl Sr. said his son crawled into the house and collapsed on the kitchen floor and told him that he had been shot, KTHV reported.
Curl Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Spriggs on the ground beside the ambulance and the 35-year-old Paramedic Joshua Godfrey bleeding inside it, KTHV reported.
Both paramedics and the female victim they had been treating when they were attacked were transported to Jefferson Regional Medical Center, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
The paramedics were both rushed into surgery in serious condition but no information has been released about statuses.
Police said detectives were in the early stages of the investigation, KLRT reported.
Holly Matkin
