Three people were shot when they exchanged gunfire and sent witnesses scrambling for safety at a Little Rock car wash Friday afternoon, police said.
Officers responded about 4 p.m. and found broken glass, tire tracks and multiple bullet shells left behind from three unidentified shooters who fled Splash Car Wash at 8020 Baseline Road in separate vehicles.
One of the vehicles, a white Ford Expedition, was located about three blocks away at 8520 Distribution Drive in the parking lot of Personalized Bottle Water. The sport utility vehicle had three bullet holes on the driver’s side.
The driver, who police said was a suspect in the shooting, had been shot in the area between his shoulder and chest.He was hospitalized in critical condition, police spokesman Lt. Sidney Allen said. The vehicle was impounded by police.
Investigators said they think the suspect had been in a previous dispute with the two other men involved in the shooting. He purportedly drove to the car wash, exited his SUV and - without saying a word - opened fire on the men, witnesses said. The men, who police said were victims in the shooting, returned fire before fleeing.
One of the victims was found with a head injury south of the car wash on Milkyway Drive, where he had crashed his car, police said. The other victim, whose leg had been injured, was found on Baseline Road about a mile west from the car wash, Allen said. The severity of their injuries was unknown late Friday.
The identities of the men involved in the shooting had not been released Friday night.
Police recovered 16 bullet shells from the scene. A witness told investigators that he was washing his car when the shooting began and that he ducked behind his vehicle to avoid being struck. One bullet went through the window of an Entergy Arkansas building on Baseline Road across from the car wash, but no one inside was hurt.
Next to the car wash, employees of a Mobile 1 Lube Express said the shooters were yards apart when they began firing. The gunfire lasted about 15 seconds, they said.
Police were reviewing security camera footage from the Mobil 1 and the car wash Friday. No charges had been filed in the shooting as of Friday night.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 04/26/2014