Authorities charged a Forrest City man with two counts of first-degree murder in the Christmas Day shootings of two men at an apartment complex, Lt. Eric Varner of the Forrest City Police Department said.
Markell Jimmerson, 24, was being held at the Arkansas Department of Correction unit at Brickeys in lieu of $350,000 bond. Authorities took Jimmerson to the state prison because a relative of his works at the St. Francis County jail in Forrest City.
He is scheduled to face formal charges in St. Francis County Circuit Court on Monday, Varner said.
Police were called to the Dawson Apartments in west Forrest City at 12:50 a.m. Thursday, where they found the bodies of Kendrick Smith, 38, and Gary Thomas, 42, both of Forrest City.
The two men were fatally shot inside a car parked outside Apartment 118.
Jimmerson was arrested at 3:21 a.m. Thursday, after officers responded to a report of a vehicle accident about half a mile from where the shootings occurred. During the investigation of the accident, officers received several tips in reference to Jimmerson's involvement in the homicides, Varner said.
Authorities sent the bodies to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy. Varner would not say what type of weapon was used in the slayings or if police had formulated a motive in the shootings.
"My prayers and condolences go out to the families of [Smith and Thomas]," Police Chief Edward Reynolds said in a news release. "It is never easy when a family loses a loved one to senseless acts of violence."
State Desk on 12/27/2014