A former Green Forest resident who was arrested in August 2019 after allegedly threatening to commit a mass shooting at the Carroll County Eastern District Courthouse has been sentenced to five years in prison after making a plea deal with prosecutors.
Dennis Lee Whitaker, 45, was arrested on Aug. 29, 2019, after a standoff at his home in Green Forest involving officers from the Tri-City Special Response Team. During the standoff, Whitaker allegedly threatened to blow himself up, according to a news release issued by the Green Forest Police Department after his arrest.
Authorities had been actively searching for Whitaker after he allegedly threatened to commit a mass shooting and then kill himself on Aug. 26, 2019, at the Carroll County Eastern District Courthouse in Berryville. According to an affidavit written by Deputy Kenen Martinez of the Carroll County Sheriffs Office, a county dispatcher received a tip that Whitaker had stated he was planning to bring a gun to the circuit court house in Berryville and kill the people inside as well as himself to make a statement.