Off-duty officer in Arkansas is killed after stray bullet strikes his home, police say

Oliver Johnson was off duty and not a target when he was killed, police say. Photo / GoFundMe

An off-duty police officer was killed by a stray bullet while inside his house in east Arkansas, authorities said.

Officer Oliver Johnson was in his game room playing video games with his family when a bullet struck and killed him, said Lieutenant Eric Varner, a spokesman for the police department in Forrest City, Arkansas, where Johnson worked.

The 25-year-old officer, who was with the department for three years, left behind a fiancee and two young daughters, Varner said.

"We're at a loss for words. We're deeply saddened by this," he said.

The shooting occurred at an apartment complex in West Memphis, Arkansas, where Johnson lived, Captain Joe Baker of the West Memphis Police Department told reporters.

Varner said a fight between several people outside the apartment escalated into a shooting.

Johnson was not a target, Baker told reporters.

Neighbours told local media that they had heard as many as 40 gunshots.

Photos and videos showed the windows of Johnson's apartment riddled with bullets.

You can see bullet holes inside of the apartment where Forrest City Officer Oliver Johnson was shot and killed in a drive-by in West Memphis. Family members tell me he has two daughters and a fiancé. @3onyourside pic.twitter.com/wc58WKwRGh

— Symone Woolridge (@SymoneTV) April 28, 2018

Portia Weatherspoon, Johnson's neighbour, told ABC affiliate WATN that she stepped outside after hearing one of Johnson's nephews yell that his uncle had been shot.

"When I went in the house, I found him shot," Weatherspoon said. "Me and my husband tried to do CPR."

It's unclear whether police have made an arrest. It's also unclear how many other people were in the apartment, but no one else has been injured.

Johnson's death was a blow to the small, tightknit agency of 35 officers. Varner said Johnson worked in the Forrest City Police Department's patrol division and had always been willing to take on more tasks, whether it was helping serve a search warrant or providing security at special events.

Varner said the agency has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to help the Johnson family.