LITTLE ROCK — Two men were killed Tuesday night in Little Rock in separate shootings less than two hours apart, quickly marking the city’s first two homicides of the year.
Off icers responded to the Pleasant Pointe Apartments at 1502 Green Mountain Drive about 7:16 p.m. and found a man and woman who had been shot in Apartment 400, police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said.
The man, who was not identified by police Tuesday night, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. He was believed to be in his mid-20s, Hastings said.
The woman was taken to a local hospital where she was in critical condition, police said. The extent of her injuries was not available Tuesday night.
No motive was released Tuesday, and police said the gunmen in the case were described only as two black men. Police also said there was another woman and a teenaged boy in the apartment at the time of the shooting.
Hastings said there was no sign of forced entry at the residence.
While police were still investigating those shootings, officers were called to the Sunshine Mart liquor store at 3525 Barrow Road about 8:50 p.m. after another shooting.
Hastings said police found a man lying next to a silver Chevrolet Impala. He had at least one gunshot wound.
The man, whose name was not released by police Tuesday night, was pronounced dead after he arrived at Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock. He was in his mid-30s, Hastings said.
No suspect information was available in the Barrow Road shooting Tuesday night.
The shootings happened within two hours of each other and occurred less than 5 miles apart, and police did not believe late Tuesday night that the two cases were related, Hastings said.
In a telephone interview, Hastings referred to the two shootings as “totally different.”
Last year, Little Rock did not record a homicide until the Jan. 13 shooting of Edward Dailey, 35, outside his apartment.
Dailey was shot in the upper torso shortly before 2 a.m. while trying to stop at least two people from stealing his car from the parking lot at The Fountains at Chenal apartment complex at 1500 Chenal Parkway, police said.
The robbers fired several shots at Dailey, wounding him once before they fled in a silver Buick.
Dailey was taken to Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock where he later died.
No arrests have been made in Dailey’s slaying.
The last time two people were killed on the same date in the capital city was Feb. 3, 2011.
On that afternoon, Robert McDonald, 55, and Sterling Bolden, 41, were shot and killed inside McDonald’s home at 2512 Summit St. When officers arrived, both men had been shot in the head.
Bolden was pronounced dead at the scene, and Mc-Donald died about an hour later at UAMS Medical Center.
Brandon Ulysses Westbrook, 26, of Maumelle was arrested Feb. 10 in those two homicides.
The Bolden and McDonald slayings were the second double homicides in 2011. On Jan. 25, Julia Anderson, 25, and Vernon Withers, 50, were shot and killed about 2 a.m. at the High Profile Salon at 5323 Base Line Road.
Jimmy Lee Frazier, 33, of Little Rock was arrested later that day and charged in both deaths.
The city had 37 homicides in 2011, nine more than the 28 recorded in 2010.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/04/2012