Arkansas Police Fatally Shoot Teen Near Youth Services Shelter

MARION, AR — A 16-year-old boy fatally shot by police outside an emergency shelter for juveniles in eastern Arkansas has been identified and a criminal investigation is underway, state police said.

The shooting happened Tuesday night at East Arkansas Youth Services in Marion, about 10 miles northwest of Memphis, Tennessee. Marion police officers responded to the shelter at 7:08 p.m. Tuesday and "moments later" reported that a teenager had been shot and wounded by police, Arkansas State Police said in a release.

Aries Clark died overnight at a Memphis hospital, state police said Wednesday. (For more Across Arkansas news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Police and the state Department of Human Services wouldn't say why officers had been called to the shelter or what happened in the moments before the shooting. State police said the findings of the criminal investigation would be forwarded to prosecutors to determine whether the shooting was justified.

State Police would not say whether Clark was a resident at the facility. Marion Police have not returned a message left seeking comment Wednesday.

East Arkansas Youth Services is a nonprofit that "provides positive alternatives to institutionalization" for at-risk children, according to its website. It offers nonresidential services for boys and girls from ages 8 to 18, and residential services for boys in the same age range.

Department spokeswoman Amy Webb said the shelter contracts with the state to provide services to children in foster care and children who have been involved in the juvenile justice system. Webb declined to comment on the shooting or say whether the boy had received services at the youth shelter.

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