LITTLE ROCK — Correction: Bobby Joe Moore III is the name of the 15-year-old who was fatally shot in August 2012 by then-Little Rock Police Department Officer Joshua Hastings. An incorrect suffix was used in the teen’s name in this story.
Little Rock police released the name of the teenager who was fatally shot by a police officer in a west Little Rock apartment complex parking lot Sunday morning.
Department spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said Bobby Moore Jr., 15, of 11214 Mesa Drive was behind the wheel of a car that officer Josh Hastings said “speed[ed] towards him” shortly after 5:15 a.m., causing him to “fear for his life” and he open fire into the vehicle, striking Moore, according to police reports.
Moore would have turned 16 on Sept. 3, reports said.
Hastings responded to the Shadow Lake Apartments at 13111 W. Markham St. after an anonymous caller told police that there was a “suspicious person” in the complex parking lot possibly breaking into cars.
When Hastings arrived, he said he heard the sound of glass breaking and “vehicles getting broke into,” reports said, and then spotted two teenagers breaking into a nearby car.
The teens jumped into a Honda Civic, which police said had been reported stolen Wednesday, and drove toward Hastings, who told investigators that he tried to get out of the path of the car, but ultimately resorted to using deadly force to protect himself.
The other two teens fled the area on foot and were later arrested and charged with breaking or entering. Davis said police would not release their names because they are juveniles.
Davis said Monday afternoon that many of the circumstances surrounding the officer-involved shooting, the fourth such fatal shooting this year, were still under investigation.
Questions such as how many rounds were fired by Hastings, whether or not the teenagers were armed or the speed and the proximity of the suspect vehicle from Hastings were still being investigated, according to Davis.
Police reports said it was unclear if the teens stole anything out of the vehicle Hastings saw them run from, and Davis said whether or not anything was stolen was also still under investigation.
Moore’s shooting came less than 48 hours after two other Little Rock officers opened fire on a man they said was armed.
Officers James Anderson and Matthew Offine shot and killed Donald O’Fallon, 43, outside his 1107 Gillette Drive residence after a disturbance between O’Fallon and his girlfriend.
All three officers remained on paid administrative leave Monday, Davis said.
She said that internal investigators reviewing the shootings will not only be looking to see if the officers followed department policy, but if there is room for improvement for the policy or in the department’s training process.
Moore’s death marked the 33rd homicide in Little Rock this year.
Little Rock police said later Monday that Desire Rice, 25, who had been in critical condition at UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock since Aug. 6, died from his injuries. Rice is the 34th homicide in the city.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 08/14/2012