Fear cited in road-rage death

NLR man says he got ‘scared,’ shot, LR police report

The North Little Rock man accused of killing another motorist after an altercation in traffic in Little Rock on Saturday afternoon told detectives he shot the man out of fear for his life, court documents said.

Chris Schnarr, 28, of 7102 Equity Lane appeared in court Monday morning and pleaded innocent to first-degree murder in the shooting death of 45-year-old Arista Aldridge.

After court officials said Schnarr, an employee for the past three years at advertising and marketing firm Cranford Johnson Robinson and Woods, was cooperating with investigators and is an established member of the community, Little Rock District Court Judge Alice Lightle set his bail at $100,000. He remained at the Pulaski County jail early Monday night.

Schnarr was arrested late Saturday afternoon. Witnesses said he shot Aldridge after a case of road rage around 1:07 p.m., police said.

Little Rock Police Department spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said she hadn’t been told what happened on Interstate 30, but said the twovehicles exited at the East Sixth Street ramp shortly after the initial exchange.

Schnarr told detectives he was headed west on East Sixth Street around 1 p.m. in his white Jeep Laredo when then he got into a “verbal disturbance” with Aldridge, who was also headed west in his tan GMC Jimmy.

Schnarr said Aldridge stopped his sport utility vehicle in front of him, got out and “approached his driver side window and put his finger in his face,” the affidavit said.

Schnarr said Aldridge walked back to his SUV,where his 4-year-old son and a 39-year-old woman, Alice Bryant, who lives with Aldridge’s son, were waiting, according to police.

Schnarr said he pulled out his semiautomatic handgun and pointed it at Aldridge, the affidavit said. When Aldridge turned around and started walking back toward him, Schnarr said he became “scared” and opened fire.

Schnarr fired three times, hitting Aldridge in the upper chest and right arm, court officials said.

Aldridge was taken to UAMS Medical Center,where he died in surgery at 3:44 p.m.

Schnarr, who was taken into custody by a responding state trooper, was charged with first-degree murder and booked into the jail.

According to Davis, Schnarr had a conceal-and-carry permit for the firearm used to kill Aldridge.

Under Act 145, a law passed during this past legislative session that exempts the list of conceal-and-carry permit holders from disclosure under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, law enforcement can release the name of permit holders as part of investigative or arrest reports.

When asked if Aldridge’s shooting may have been justified, Davis said accounts by eyewitnesses, including passengers in a nearby bus, supported a murder charge.

Aldridge’s shooting marks the 13th homicide in Little Rock this year, fewer thanthe 15 recorded at this point last year.

Aldridge’s death also marks the fifth homicide in a week in Little Rock.

On May 6, Bobby Broadway, 40, and his girlfriend Natasha Avery, 32, were found shot to death in their 1513 W. 33rd St. home.

On May 7, Kelshun Mouton was gunned down in a secluded cul-de-sac at Black Jack Court.

At 5 a.m. Friday, police found the body of Forrest Abrams of Fayetteville at South 11th and Woodrow streets after his reported abduction.

No arrests have been made in any of those killings. Although detectives identified Mouton’s shooter as Donovan Whittington and questioned him about Mouton’s death the next day, Whittington faces no charges.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 05/14/2013

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