Little Rock's cold-case unit makes arrest; Crime Lab work helps team charge man in September killing

Randtrel Carruthers
Randtrel Carruthers

After a fatal shooting in September last year, a 20-year-old man told police he was at the scene of the shooting and fired a pistol in the direction of the victim, according to court documents obtained Monday.

Randtrel Carruthers of Little Rock was arrested Friday in the killing of Malik Mumit, 45, who was killed Sept. 17 in Little Rock.

The arrest is the first for the Little Rock Police Department's cold-case unit, which was formed earlier this year to investigate unsolved homicides and perhaps missing-person cases, said Lt. Steve McClanahan, a police spokesman. The unit is composed of four retired investigators who work part time, he said.

An arrest affidavit written by Lt. Dana Jackson, commander of the cold-case unit, provides further details on the killing of Mumit and outlines evidence against Carruthers.

[INTERACTIVE: Map details all Little Rock killings in 2016]

Mumit was found fatally shot on Sept. 17 after officers were called to 1721 Pinewood Drive for a report of shots fired. An autopsy found that the 45-year-old man had been hit by seven bullets, according to the affidavit.

One witness told police that Mumit was seen riding a motorcycle in the area before the shooting, and the shots were heard as soon as the motorcycle's engine was turned off, according to the affidavit. Only one man was seen running away while shooting in the victim's direction, according to the witness. The witness told police the gunman ran into the one-story home at 1801 Pinewood Drive.

Another witness in the house at 1801 Pinewood Drive said Carruthers ran back into the house with a silver handgun after the shooting. That witness said the 20-year-old was inside the house immediately before the shooting as well, according to the affidavit.

In a taped statement to investigators, Carruthers said he was at the scene of the shooting and "admitted to running and shooting a pistol into the direction where [Mumit] was shot," according to the court documents.

"Mr. Carruthers stated that he was sorry if the victim was hit," according to the document.

He said there were other people shooting, but detectives in the cold-case unit were not able to find out if the other people exist, the documents said.

The affidavit did not indicate when homicide detectives interviewed Carruthers.

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The state Crime Laboratory found that all 13 shell casing found at the scene were fired from the same weapon, something police said was inconsistent with Carruthers' statement that there were multiple shooters, according to the affidavit. The affidavit said Mumit's gunshot wounds did not reveal evidence of close-range firing.

McClanahan said the analysis by the Crime Lab allowed investigators to file an affidavit against Carruthers.

"It was enough where we could poke holes in his statement and push us over the hump, where we could get a warrant for first-degree murder," he said.

Officer Steve Moore, a police spokesman, said the department received the Crime Lab report in December, but court documents show the affidavit was not submitted until last week.

When asked about the monthslong delay in submitting the affidavit, Moore said it was a sign of how busy homicide detectives have been since last fall.

"They just got swamped with other files and other investigations," he said. In the months after Mumit's death, the homicide unit's resources were tied up investigating a number of high-profile cases, he said.

Those high-profile cases included the separate shooting deaths of 2-year-old Ramiya Reed and 3-year-old Acen King, said Moore, who was a homicide detective at the time.

Homicide detectives also respond to fatal overdoses, suicides and infant deaths, all investigations that take time and and tie up resources, he said.

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Metro on 08/23/2017

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