LITTLE ROCK — A Pulaski County man arrested late Saturday night told investigators he “feared for his safety” when he opened fire on an unarmed neighbor, arrest reports said.
Edward Lee, 34, of 14122 Charlene Lane was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after he admitted to taking a handgun to another neighbor’s property and shooting Antonio Davis.
The first Pulaski County sheriff’s deputy arrived at 14110 Charlene Lane at about 9:24 p.m. and walked up to the home and saw four or five people standing on the front porch surrounding Davis, who was lying on his back, reports said.
Davis, 22, was taken to Baptist Hospital in Little Rock where he was pronounced dead from his injuries.
The witnesses on the porch told the deputy that the gun used to shoot Davis was still on the porch and that the suspect had fled to a nearby house.
Moments later, Lee stepped out of his home and surrendered at gun point to the deputy.
After being read his rights, Lee told detectives he was inside his own house when he heard an argument on the porch next door getting heated.
Lee grabbed his gun and went next door to “break up the fight” and while he was trying to break-up a disturbance between Davis and an unidentified male, Davis stepped toward Lee.
Deputies noted that Lee and Davis have a “violent history,” reports said, and Lee told deputies that in one altercation, Davis broke Lee’s ankle.
Lee told deputies that with one hand on his gun and the other motioning at Davis, he warned Davis to back down several times.
Davis didn’t back down, Lee said, and worried about his safety, he fired several times, hitting Davis in the chest with four rounds.
Members of Davis’ family witnessed the shooting, the report said, and tried to subdue Lee, who escaped from the porch and made it back to his property.
Lee told deputies that he locked the door behind him and, in fear of “retaliation” against him and his family, put his son in a closet and told him to not come out.
Pulaski County sheriff ’s spokesman Lt. Carl Minden said that Lee was likely charged with first-degree murder because of the fact that Davis was unarmed at the time of the shooting.
“You can be scared of some sort of harm, but you have to be scared of serious physical harm to use deadly force,” Minden said. “[Lee] had the ability to retreat to a certain point ... He went into a fight that wasn’t even on his yard.”
As of Sunday night, Lee was being held in the Pulaski County jail. No bond has been set.
Davis’ shooting marks the fifth homicide investigation started by the Pulaski County sheriff’s office this year. In 2011, there were nine homicides.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 10/08/2012