Hall High student wanted in ’13 case surrenders

A Little Rock officer and a police dog search Tuesday for a suspect on Normandy Lane. The subject of the search was a Hall High School student who police say is wanted for attempted capital murder and robbery. Police said they did not find him.
A Little Rock officer and a police dog search Tuesday for a suspect on Normandy Lane. The subject of the search was a Hall High School student who police say is wanted for attempted capital murder and robbery. Police said they did not find him.

A Hall High School student wanted on charges of attempted capital murder and robbery surrendered to officers Wednesday and was booked into jail, authorities said.

The 16-year-old, who was briefly detained Tuesday by a school resource officer but bolted from the school, setting off a search of the surrounding area, turned himself in at police headquarters with an attorney present, Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Sidney Allen said.

Few details have been released about the case in which the teen is wanted. He will be charged as an adult, Allen said, but police won't identify him "until he is officially recognized by the courts."

Pulaski County jail records showed 16-year-old Demontae Berry of Little Rock was booked in shortly before 11 a.m. on charges listed as criminal attempt, theft of property, aggravated robbery and third-degree escape.

Allen declined to confirm that Berry is the student arrested pending an initial court appearance, which is expected to occur Thursday morning. But no other juvenile offenders were listed as being booked into the jail Wednesday other than Berry.

Allen said it's unclear how the student escaped officials during the manhunt, but that he apparently contacted an attorney Tuesday night and arranged to turn himself in. The student, who had been handcuffed before fleeing, still had the cuffs on one of his wrists when he arrived at police headquarters Wednesday morning, Allen said.

The teen's flight caused brief lockdowns Tuesday of Hall High and Forest Heights Middle School, but students were eventually dismissed "without incident," Allen said.

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