HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. — A Phillips County jury on Monday, December 15, 2025, found Latarius Quayshun Howard, 34, guilty of Capital Murder in the 2020 shooting death of Helena-West Helena Police Officer Travis Wallace, 41.
Howard was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, plus 15 years for a firearm enhancement, in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
Howard was apprehended in Mississippi in November 2020 by Special Agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Marshals Service. He surrendered without resistance in Shaw, Mississippi.
The incident occurred on November 12, 2020, outside the Delta Inn at 1207 U.S. Highway 49. Officer Wallace and other local law enforcement were searching for Howard, who was wanted in connection with a separate shooting incident about a week earlier.
According to authorities, Officer Wallace spotted Howard attempting to leave the motel parking lot in an SUV. Wallace blocked the exit with his patrol vehicle. Howard then exited the SUV and fired at Officer Wallace, who returned fire. Howard and the driver fled, but Officer Wallace later died from gunshot wounds at a nearby hospital.
