Man given 4 years in '15 fatal gunfire

Shootout between 2 killed bystander

The second of two men linked to a fatal February 2015 shooting was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday.

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Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright ordered Cameron Bernard Williams, 24, to serve his time in a regional punishment facility to receive substance abuse treatment, said deputy prosecutor Scott Duncan.

Williams pleaded guilty to felon in possession of a firearm last month. At the time of the shooting, Williams was on probation for convictions of theft by receiving in 2013 and drug possession in 2012.

Williams of North Little Rock and his co-defendant, 27-year-old Ralph Waldo Armstrong of Sherwood, had each been charged with first-degree murder and 10 counts of committing a terroristic act related to the gunplay at the Americas Best Value Inn on Scott Hamilton Drive that killed Michael Cordell Strickland Jr. Each of the charges carried a potential life sentence.

Police said Strickland was a bystander caught in an exchange of gunfire between Armstrong and 23-year-old Jamie Olatreece Clayton of Little Rock.

Armstrong was firing his gun to cover his brother's efforts to rescue Williams, who was in the street after being shot in the chest, Armstrong's attorney said.

Armstrong's brother, Kalone McGee, was also wounded. He was not accused of any wrongdoing.

Armstrong pleaded guilty to manslaughter for Strickland's death and was sentenced by the judge to four years in prison in June.

He testified then -- and Strickland's family confirmed -- that the men had been close friends since childhood. Armstrong said he did not know that "Little Mike" (Strickland), a 24-year-old father of two, was at the motel when the shooting started. Strickland's family members said they believed he was killed by accident.

Armstrong's lawyer said Clayton had briefly hidden in Strickland's room during the gunfire and told the judge that Clayton was responsible for starting the gunfight.

Clayton, who was also wounded, was not charged, and prosecutors withdrew the murder charges against Armstrong and Williams after a witness went from saying the shootout was started by someone in Armstrong's car to saying that Clayton was the first to fire.

Clayton is now serving a five-year sentence in state prison on felony theft, battery and assault charges.

He is under federal indictment on a felon in possession of a firearm charge following his arrest after the shooting. He is to stand trial in December.

A witness to the motel shooting, 25-year-old La'Darrius Galbraith, was killed in April 2015 in a shooting at Cheatham Park on East Capitol Avenue in Little Rock that also wounded his sister, Kentaria Mechelle Banks, 21.

Clayton's brother Douglas had been playing dice with Galbraith at a park table.

The accused killer in that case, 24-year-old Kevious Montrell "Keke" Foster, pleaded no contest in April to second-degree murder, reduced from first-degree murder, and committing a terroristic act in exchange for a 40-year prison sentence.

On Christmas Eve 2013, the Clayton brothers together witnessed the drive-by murder of Austin Quinn Burks. The 23-year-old father of two was gunned down in the road in front of his South Adams Street home.

He had been leaning into the car the Claytons were sitting in when he was shot by Jamar Dewayne Jordan, the driver of a passing car. Jordan, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the slaying in September 2015 along with an August 2015 shooting in exchange for a 65-year prison sentence.

Metro on 09/16/2016

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