Suspects in custody in UCA shooting

Two suspects were in custody Monday in the Sunday night shooting deaths of two students and wounding of another at the University of Central Arkansas, campus police said.

Campus police Lt. Preston Grumbles said two other suspects are being sought, according to a UCA press release.

Campus police Lt. Rhonda Swindle identified the dead as Ryan Henderson, 18, of Little Rock, who lived in Arkansas Hall; and Charvares Block, 19, of Dermott, a UCA student who lived off-campus.

A non-student, Martrevis Norman of Blytheville, was shot in the leg but has been released from the hospital.

Police said the suspects were all male and from the central Arkansas area but were not students.

"It does not seem at this time that it was a random act," Grumbles said.

Swindle said the first report of shots fired came at 9:19 p.m. Sunday. An officer heard the shooting, which occurred near a male dormitory and behind the campus police station, and arrived to the scene in less than a minute, she said.

One man fell to the sidewalk along the narrow alley between the Arkansas Hall dormitory and the Snow Fine Arts Center and died. Swindle said the two others rushed into the dorm, where paramedics later found them.

Swindle said video captured by surveillance cameras would be examined.

Police used crime scene tape to keep people out of a large area around where the shootings occurred, including a nearby intersection.

Pools of blood still stained the cold cement sidewalk early Monday morning. Firefighters' foam sprayed over the alleyway to clean away traces of the attack congealed with the blood, turning to an orange froth.

Student Aprille Hanson, 20, of Mountain Home said the shooting was "definitely an eye-opener" in the quiet city of Conway, about 26 miles north of Little Rock.

"This campus is very safe. I've never felt afraid on this campus," Hanson said. "Everyone's going to be a little more tense."

However, the campus remained under guard Monday morning, with police cruisers circling its quiet streets and officers roaming the grounds in flak jackets and blue jeans.

"The UCA campus itself is not locked down, although officers are posted at every campus entrance, and access to campus is limited to residents and authorized personnel," UCA spokesman Warwick Sabin said in an e-mail early Monday.

Classes for Monday were canceled.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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