Five people were shot, two fatally, in Little Rock on Independence Day, police reported.
The first shooting, which occurred early Saturday morning in the parking lot of a Little Rock apartment complex, left two men dead.
Little Rock police were still investigating, but said in a news release Saturday that it appears that Terrance Slaughter and Kevin Brown shot each other in the parking lot of the Briarwood Apartment Homes at 801 S. Rodney Parham Road after fighting over marijuana. The ages and hometowns of both men were not available Saturday.
Officers arrived at 2:19 a.m. and found Slaughter in the back part of the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock where he was taken into surgery. He died from his injuries at 3:44 a.m., the news release said.
Brown was taken to Baptist Health in a private car. He also was treated for gunshot wounds and died at 2:35 a.m., according to the release.
Police found a semiautomatic handgun near Slaughter's clothing in the parking lot along with several spent shell casings from two different weapons, the news release said. Police said they also found a small plastic bag containing marijuana and a prescription bottle with unknown pills in it.
The prescription bottle belonged to the man who took Brown to the hospital, police said. That man, whose name was not released, told police that he and Brown went to Briarwood Apartments to meet with a man who had called Brown. That man was later identified as Slaughter, police said.
Brown and Slaughter met in the parking lot. The news release said Brown showed Slaughter some marijuana, and then Slaughter pointed a pistol at Brown and said, "Give me what you got." The two men struggled and shot at each other, police said.
This is the second shooting at the Briarwood Apartment Homes in less than a month. On June 19, a woman was shot there in the chest. She survived, and her boyfriend was charged with first-degree battery.
In another shooting Saturday, one man was shot three times in the upper torso about 5:30 p.m. at the house at 2302 S. Valentine St., Little Rock police Sgt. Cody Miller said.
The man, whose name and age were not released, was taken to UAMS Medical Center and was in critical but stable condition Saturday evening, officer Richard Hilgeman said.
Miller said there were two witnesses, two suspects and one victim in the home at the time of the shooting. The suspects left the house on foot heading west.
Police said one of the suspects is a black man, who has short hair and was wearing a gray T-shirt.
In May, police went to the same house on South Valentine Street in relation of another homicide there.
Shortly after Saturday's shooting on South Valentine Street, Little Rock police responded to call about a shooting in the parking lot of Sharks Fish & Chicken at 8722 Colonel Glenn Road.
One man was shot in the leg and taken to Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.
Hilgeman said the suspect in that shooting is a black man, who has dreadlocks and was wearing a white T-shirt and bluejeans. He left in a black sedan, the make and model of which were unknown.
The fourth shooting of the day Saturday occurred at 10:15 p.m. in Union Park at West 36th and Potter streets. According to police, the victim was young. He had been shot in the leg and was taken to Arkansas Children's Hospital, police said.
The suspect in the case was described as a black man who was wearing a white shirt.
Metro on 07/05/2015