Two Little Rock teenagers were accused of stealing a car at knife-point and arrested 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 also was charged with not having a driver's license.
The boys were interviewed by KARK-TV, Channel 4 reporter Shannon Miller after school on Monday as part of story titled "Teens, community members weigh-in on youth violence."
The story was in response to a spate of violence this weekend that included three homicides. Two other Little Rock teenagers were charged in one of the slayings, which police described as a purse snatching that turned into a shooting.
KARK was the first to report that its on-air sources were in police custody Tuesday.
According to a police report, a man called police about 11:30 p.m. Monday to report that two teens threatened him with a knife and stole his blue Toyota Corolla while he was filling up at a gas station.
The report said the carjacking occurred several blocks from the intersection of Baseline and Geyer Spring roads, where Miller said she had 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 was a student at McClellan High School, where one of the teens charged in the weekend murder was also a student.
Smith said he has been in trouble and incarcerated over "that type of stuff" but said he never resorted to shooting anyone. He added that after the recent deaths, he had told his mom that 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 said Tuesday that she was surprised to learn about the teens' arrests.
"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."
Metro on 02/03/2016