Little Rock police have arrested three men in connection to two aggravated robberies, one of which led to the shooting of two men.
Antonio Cheeter, 27, John Rawls Jr., 21, and Walter Oates, 26, all of Little Rock, were taken into custody and charged Saturday after police and witnesses confirmed their involvement in two robberies and a shooting that left one man critically injured, Little Rock police said.
Officers initially responded to a reported robbery in progress at the Paper Moon nightclub, at 3301 Mabelvale Pike, early Saturday morning, according to a Little Rock Police Department report. There, a witness told police that several people were involved in a fight that started inside the club and continued in the parking lot. The witness said he saw four black men pointing guns at people before fleeing north in a gray Dodge Intrepid, according to the report. Another witness had reported seeing four Middle Eastern men flee the scene in a white Toyota.
Police were then called about 5:14 a.m. to a shooting at 3401 Fair Park Blvd., which is the listed address for South Oaks Apartments and where Matar Alsuhaymi and Zain Pukhary were found shot inside a unit. The other two men who lived there told police they had an argument at the club with some men, three of whom then followed all four roommates to their apartment and purportedly shot Alsuhaymi and Pukhary as they tried to enter, the report states.
Their medical conditions weren't immediately known early Monday afternoon; however, police said Alsuhaymi's injuries are considered life-threatening.
Later that morning, another report states, police were called to a robbery at Park Plaza Mall, 101 N. University Ave., where, a woman said, two unknown black men had approached her and demanded at gunpoint the four pairs of Air Jordan shoes she had just purchased.
The woman followed the robbers out of the parking deck and reported their vehicle description and license plate number to police, the report states.
Police found the vehicle a short time later and arrested Cheeter, Rawls and Oates after officers found in their possession bags of shoes, guns and other items. The roommates of the shooting victims also identified Cheeter as the gunman, according to a police report.
Cheeter and Oates were each charged with three counts of aggravated robbery and one count of theft of property. Oates, who is listed as an active parolee, was also charged with obstruction of governmental operations for initially giving police a false name. Cheeter was additionally charged with two counts of first-degree battery and possession of a firearm by a certain person.
Rawls, who police say served as a lookout during the shooting, was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery, according to a report.
All three are in the Pulaski County jail without bail.
