TEXARKANA -- A 21-year-old Texas man has been charged with murder in a fatal November shooting described by police as drug-related.
Laderrick Travalen Johnson Jr. of Texarkana, Texas, is accused of killing Leroy Davis, 44, Nov. 2 in the Beechdale Apartments complex in Texarkana. Johnson turned himself in a couple of days later, according to reports from Texarkana police.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Johnson faces 10 to 40 years or life in an Arkansas prison.
Texarkana police Lt. Todd Harness said in November that the shooting was related to "clandestine drug activity."
Search-warrant documents show that investigators collected a variety of unused and spent ammunition and shell casings, as well as bullet fragments. Bloodstained carpet and swabs of blood found in a hallway were collected, as well, the documents state.
A plastic bag with 18 smaller bags containing suspected marijuana were discovered, as were packages of suspected synthetic marijuana. Investigators said they also found bags of suspected methamphetamine in Davis' pockets.
The murder charge is not the first criminal charge Johnson has faced in a shooting. When he was 17, Johnson was among a group of defendants accused in a gang shooting Oct. 6, 2012, at Chapel Hill Apartments. A 14-year-old girl who was at the complex visiting a friend was struck by a stray bullet and seriously wounded.
State Desk on 01/13/2017