LONOKE, Ark. — A Mercer County man wanted by police for sexual assault in Pennsylvania, human trafficking in Ohio and child abduction in North Carolina was found dead Saturday after police say he shot a police officer in Arkansas.
William Robert Ice, 38, was found by Arkansas State Police with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Highway 31, after shooting at Lonoke police at a McDonald’s near Interstate 40.
Police said the SUV Ice was driving Saturday night was identified as a suspected vehicle in a multi-state manhunt. Ice was wanted in North Carolina after allegedly kidnapping a 14-year-old girl.
He was ordered to get out of the SUV and when he did he started firing at police, hitting one of the officers. The second officer returned fire but Ice got into the SUV and drove off, police said.
A vehicle chase ended when Ice’s vehicle got stuck in a snow bank around 8 p.m. Inside the vehicle, police found Ice critically injured from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Ice died at a Little Rock hospital on Sunday.
Police said the 14-year-old girl was a passenger in the vehicle and through the investigation was identified as the victim in a child abduction case in North Carolina on Feb. 11, after being reported missing out of Davidson County.
The officer that was wounded was in stable condition, police said.
Ice was wanted in Mercer County after police say he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl there and also had a pending criminal case after an online sting by the Human Trafficking Task Force in Ohio. The task force arrested Ice in 2020 after he went into an apartment to meet who he thought was a young girl.
He ran and tried to run over an officer before he was caught and charged in that case.
Meanwhile, the 14-year-old girl he kidnapped was reunited with her family in North Carolina.
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