Police ID man killed during break-in try at Arkansas apartment

PINE BLUFF -- Police have identified a man shot and killed in a late-night home invasion Tuesday at the Southeast Apartments complex as Lorenda Crutchfield.

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Lieutenant David E. De Foor said Crutchfield, 35, was shot when he and two other unidentified men tried to break into an apartment at 1100 East 36th Street.

According to a police report, tenant Bruce Reed, 21, responded when someone knocked on the door of his apartment. Crutchfield and the two other men forced their way into the apartment, where Crutchfield and Reed began to struggle.

Crutchfield was fatally shot and Reed suffered a minor gunshot wound in his arm during the struggle, the police report said. De Foor said police haven't determined who shot Crutchfield or what gun was used.

"There was a struggle on the floor and a gun they were fighting over," De Foor said. "We don't know if that gun was the first one that fired, and it is in the gun lab to see if it was fired. The other two who left the scene could have taken whatever they had with them."

Southeast Apartments has about 100 units. Police have had only 17 reports from the complex this year and most have been minor, De Foor said.

"We don't know if the apartment was targeted or if it was random," De Foor said. "These guys kicked their way into the apartment, and the homeowner could not tell us a whole lot because he was focused on the gun and his girlfriend was just trying to hear what was going on."

De Foor said Crutchfield's body was sent to the state Crime Laboratory where he was identified by his fingerprints, which were in the system. De Foor said Crutchfield was from Pine Bluff but had been living in St. Louis most recently.

Police ask anyone with additional information to contact the detective division at 870-730-2090 or dispatch at 870-541-5300.

State Desk on 07/15/2016

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