A 39-year-old Nashville man is facing a felony charge after Howard County deputies say he pointed a machete at two people outside a home and told one of them he planned to kill him. Omar Navarrete was taken into custody following the reported confrontation on Mount Pleasant Drive and transported to the Howard County jail on a charge of terroristic threatening in the first degree.
According to an arrest affidavit detailed by Southwest Arkansas Radio, Deputy Cason Launius was dispatched on September 20 to a residence in Howard County after a report that a man outside the home was making threats with a machete. When deputies arrived, they reportedly found a machete stuck in the ground outside the residence and identified Navarrete as the man involved.
Witnesses told deputies that Navarrete pointed the machete at one person and threatened to kill him, the affidavit states. He also allegedly pointed the blade at a second witness and asked where he wanted to be cut first, according to witness statements included in the report. Navarrete was taken into custody and transported to the Howard County jail.
What the Felony Charge Actually Requires
Terroristic threatening in the first degree is a Class D felony in Arkansas under Arkansas Code § 5-13-301, carrying a potential sentence of up to six years in prison upon conviction, according to Wesley Rhodes, Attorney at Law. The charge applies specifically when a defendant threatens death or serious physical injury with the purpose of terrorizing another person, a higher bar than the state's second-degree misdemeanor threat statute, which covers less severe threats of simple injury or minor property damage.
Prosecutors pursuing a first-degree conviction must establish that a suspect acted with the specific intent of terrorizing the alleged victim, not simply that a threat was made.
Arkansas generally permits people to openly carry bladed tools like machetes, but state statute criminalizes that possession when it's combined with intent to unlawfully use the blade as a weapon against another person, according to Justia Law. That distinction, under Arkansas Code § 5-73-120, is central to how deputies and prosecutors frame the allegations against Navarrete.
Where the Case Goes From Here
The Howard County Detention Facility is at 101 Isaac Perkins Blvd. in Nashville and serves municipalities across the county including Nashville, Mineral Springs, and Dierks, according to Jail Exchange.
That district is now led by prosecutor Mickey Buchanan, who assumed the role in September 2026 after an appointment by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, according to Southwest Arkansas Daily - KDQN. The case also arrives as Howard County's sheriff's office undergoes a leadership transition: Sheriff Bryan McJunkins announced last October that he would retire at the end of his term after 28 years with the department, including 12 as elected sheriff, and has endorsed Chief Deputy Joey Davis to succeed him.
Nashville, the county seat where Navarrete lives, is Howard County's largest town with an estimated 2026 population of 3,911, accounting for nearly a third of the county's residents. Howard County's overall population has been shrinking, standing at roughly 12,306 in 2025, a 3.8 percent decline from the 12,785 counted in the 2020 census, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
The allegations against Navarrete are laid out in an arrest affidavit.
