HOT SPRINGS — An Arkansas man will serve twenty years in federal prison for Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury and Assault with Intent to Do Bodily Harm, in connection with a July 28, 2019, shooting incident in Hot Springs National Park. On Nov. 27, the Honorable Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey, sentenced Jonathan Allen Scott, age 36, of Hot Springs, to twenty years in federal prisons on both counts, and three years’ supervised probation after he pleaded guilty, on April 14, to Count Two and Count Four of a seven-count Indictment in which he was named.
According to court documents, on July 28, 2019, Scott entered Hot Springs National Park, along Bath House Row, east of Central Avenue, carrying a 12-gauge shotgun. Hot Springs is a United States National Park in Garland County. After receiving 911 calls regarding Scott, he was confronted by officers of the Hot Springs Arkansas Police Department and fired a slug into the ground in the direction of one of the officers. Dozens of visitors to the park and downtown area, along the sidewalks, and nearby city and park structures, were in the immediate vicinity, as well as a usually crowded Central Avenue. Two Hot Springs Officers, along with their city canine partner, approached Scott, and ordered him to drop the shotgun near park headquarters. Scott refused the orders and turned on the officers with the shotgun, discharging the weapon, and simultaneously one of the officers discharged his service weapon at Scott striking him multiple times. The second round Scott fired, struck the sidewalk in front of the officers, and the resulting slug round fragmented, striking and wounding one officer and his canine partner. Both officers recovered from their injuries sustained by gunfire. Scott was treated and later arrested at a local hospital.
A subsequent investigation by special agents of the Arkansas State Police and National Park Service-Investigative Services Branch, established the full extent of Scott’s actions and he was taken into custody after release from the hospital. Scott was later indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2019.
U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.
The case was investigated by special agents of the Arkansas State Police, National Park Service - Investigative Services Branch and U.S. Park Rangers at Hot Springs National Park, with the assistance of the Garland County Arkansas Sheriff’s Office and Hot Springs Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Achorn and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenny Elser prosecuted the case for the United States.
