Faulkner County authorities on Wednesday charged a 37-year-old homeless man with first-degree murder in a June shooting near Lake Conway that killed 34-year-old Jermaine LaMont Harris Tyus.
Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland issued an affidavit seeking the arrest of Andrew Sykes Jr., who was already in jail on a hindering apprehension charge related to the case.
Faulkner County sheriff's deputies found Tyus, of Conway, with a gunshot wound to the head near 158 Waterfront Cove on the afternoon of June 20, the affidavit states. Property found on Tyus' body led investigators to the Economy Inn on Oak Street in Conway, where they interviewed several witnesses about what they had seen at the motel.
Investigators reported receiving a video of an altercation between Sykes and Tyus at the motel, according to the affidavit. Witnesses told police that Sykes had a gun during the confrontation, which police said occurred about 40 minutes before the first call to police from Waterfront Cove.
Two witnesses drove away in a car with Sykes and Tyus. One witness told police that Sykes motioned "like he was going to shoot the victim in the car," the affidavit states, before the witness told Sykes "not to do it."
The witness told police that Sykes then said, "I know how to deal with this."
On July 1, the prosecuting attorney's office issued an affidavit seeking Sykes' arrest after an investigator wrote that Sykes' account of events were inconsistent with what police "know the facts to be."
Investigator Larry Nokes wrote in the affidavit that Sykes gave three different accounts of the events, all of which were inconsistent with Nokes' investigation and were meant to "lead the investigation in the wrong direction and has hindered our ability to proceed in a proper manner."
Metro on 07/17/2014