Police respond to 4 shootings in less than 5 hours in Little Rock; 3 hurt

In Little Rock on Monday night, four shootings in under five hours injured a 12-year-old boy, a mother of three, a 20-year-old man and left a home peppered with bullet holes, police said.

Police are investigating several of the shootings as related, spokesman Lt. Steve McClanahan said. The “same people keep popping up time and time again,” he said.

The pattern will likely continue until witnesses come forward and share what they know, McClanahan said. Citizens might be fearful to do so, he said, but the crimes being committed are serious, and police need their help.

“We’re not going to be able to stop it on our own,” McClanahan said.

Officers were first called to a residence in the 3000 block of Boyd Street around 6:10 p.m. after getting a call about a shooting, according to a police report. A 57-year-old resident told police that her 12-year-old grandson was inside the house when three men in a white four-door sedan drove by.

The men fired at the home, striking the 12-year-old boy in the foot, the grandmother said. His mother and step-father took him to Baptist Health Medical Center where the boy was reportedly in stable condition but needed surgery due to blood loss, police said.

Officers noted gunshot holes to the residence from two previous shootings as well as new marks near a window on the porch. Inside the home was a trail of blood leading from the living room to the bedroom, officers said.

About an hour and 20 minutes later, officers were sent to a home three blocks away in the 3300 block of Tatum Street.

Zowah Jackson, 19, told police that he, his mother and his cousin were riding in his white 2007 Dodge Charger to the cousin's home on Elam Street. When the group neared the intersection of 32nd and Ludwig Street, the Charger was struck by multiple bullets, Jackson told police.

The cousin, 20-year-old Derius Hayes, was reportedly hit by a bullet in his left shoulder. He refused further treatment after he was inspected by medical personnel, police said.

Police inspected the Charger and reported that bullets had shattered Jackson’s rear window and bore holes in two head rests. Across the street from Jackson’s home, police found a camouflage bag with unspent rounds inside, the report said.

Later that night, 27-year-old Tiffany Rushing was shot and injured while loading her three children into her white 2008 Jeep Compass outside her home on Barbara Circle, her father-in-law, Michael Rushing, told police.

Shortly before 9 p.m., a white Nissan Altima and a black Dodge Challenger drove slowly past their home, said Michael Rushing, who watched the cars from the porch. Then, during another pass, people inside the vehicles “opened fire on the family,” he told police.

During the gunfire, Tiffany Rushing was struck in the arm. Bullets hit the Jeep, but Rushing's children, ages 9, 5 and 2, were uninjured, the report said. The mother was taken to a local hospital in a private vehicle for treatment, police said.

Around 10:40 p.m., police arrived at a residence in the 4500 block of Montclair Road. A 67-year-old woman told police she was watching television in bed when gunfire broke out outside her home, the report said.

A neighbor told police he saw the flash of guns firing toward the house. Officers reportedly saw 12 bullet holes in the walls of the residence and 34 spent casings on the ground just south of the intersection of Montclair Road and Washington Street.

No one was injured in the shooting.

On April 16, police reportedly found a 16-year-old girl at a local hospital who had been shot in her right knee. The girl told responding officers she did not know anything and her father instructed her not to speak with police.

“It’s extremely frustrating. And it sends a bad message,” McClanahan said, referencing the incident. “It ties our hands as police because we need people to cooperate with us.”

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

Shooting on Barbara Circle

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Photos by Ryan Tarinelli

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