Little Rock teens arrested hours after giving TV interview on youth violence

Gregory Smith, left, and Brian Austin
Gregory Smith, left, and Brian Austin

Two Little Rock teenagers were accused of stealing a car at knifepoint Tuesday morning, less than a day after they spoke to a television news station for a story about youths committing violent crimes.

Brian Austin, 15, and Gregory Smith, 16, were booked into the Pulaski County jail after 5 a.m. Tuesday on charges of aggravated robbery and theft of property. Austin was also charged with not having a driver's license.

The pair was interviewed by KARK reporter Shannon Miller after school Monday as part of story titled "Teens, community members weigh-in on youth violence."

The story was in response to a spat of violence this weekend that included three homicides. Another pair of Little Rock teenagers were charged in one of the slayings, which police described as a purse snatching-turned-shooting.

KARK was the first to report that its on-air sources for a story were in police custody.

According to a police report, a man called police around 11:30 p.m. to report that two teens threatened him with a knife and stole his blue Toyota Corolla while filing up at a gas station.

The report says the carjacking occurred several blocks from the intersection of Baseline and Geyer Spring roads, where Miller said she interviewed the teens earlier in the day.

Police stopped a car matching the description around 2 a.m. and arrested Austin and Smith, who later admitted to stealing the car, the report said.

Speaking on camera to Miller before his arrest, Smith said he is a student at McClellan High School, where one of the teens charged with murder was a student.

Smith said he has been in trouble and imprisoned over "that type of stuff" but said he never resorted to shooting anyone. He added that after the deaths, he told his mom he wanted to stay out of trouble.

"I told her I gotta stay away from these streets, and that's what I offered to do," Smith said in the KARK broadcast.

When asked why teenagers would resort to violence, Austin said on camera that "it could be ... from pain, how they feel ... in the moment."

Miller told Arkansas Online she was surprised to learn about the arrests when one of her editors tweeted the news this morning.

"It's almost like they know it's wrong, but it's too much of a temptation," Miller said. "It just seems like there's not enough of a positive influence there for them."

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