SHERWOOD -- The city of Sherwood is honoring a local firefighter who was fatally shot while responding to a medical call.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the city held a ceremony at the Sherwood Central Fire Station on Sunday, exactly one year after Ronald Jason Adams was killed. Adams was volunteering with the East Pulaski Volunteer Fire Department at the time of this death, but was a five-year veteran of the Sherwood Fire Department.
Sherwood Battalion Chief Jodie Hartman said a rescue vehicle now carries a memorial plate with his name displayed on its side. Adams worked for months to help outfit the vehicle for the department in 2014.
Mayor Virginia Young announced Sunday as Lt. Jason Adams Day in Sherwood. The honor was presented to his former fiancee, Lt. Jeannie DeMeyere, who also works at the fire department.
Adams' mother, Phylis Stroud, says the honors will allow her "son's memory to live on forever." Stroud said her son battled cancer twice as a teenager, and that it was amazing that he grew up to have a successful career as a firefighter.
The shooting occurred when Adams was called to a report of a man having a seizure at a home. The man accused in the shooting, Mark Eugene Pruitt, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. Pruitt told medical examiners at the state hospital that he had accidentally shot Adams, mistaking him for an intruder.
His trial is scheduled for April 11. A judge has ruled that Pruitt was competent to stand trial after a mental evaluation by state doctors found that the self-employed car dealer was not mentally ill.
State Desk on 01/24/2017