Arrest made in LR gun-deal shooting
Little Rock police on Friday arrested a man in a shooting that left a person critically injured last week.
Khaliq Vonelle Slater, 19, was charged with first-degree battery and aggravated robbery. Police said Slater and at least one other person shot Robert Rockett, 20, after meeting Rockett to purchase a gun at 3 Blue Rock Place, east of Geyer Springs Road, on March 15.
A witness identified Slater as "the suspect who made the demands and took the firearm," according to an arrest report. Slater and another man, after stealing the gun, "fired numerous shots into the victim's vehicle" and struck Rockett as Rockett tried to flee, the report states.
Police said Rockett of Benton remained in critical condition Friday.
Slater of Bryant also faces charges of committing a terroristic act and theft of property. He was being held in the Pulaski County jail.
No other arrests had been made as of late Friday.
68-year-old held after shots fired
A man was arrested after a suspected drug transaction ended in shots fired Thursday in Little Rock, police said.
Henry Dupree, 68, of Little Rock could be heard on his cellphone talking about a drug deal that involved crack cocaine, his niece, who was in a vehicle with him, told authorities.
Dupree had traveled to the area of West 20th Street and Marshall Street, where someone asked him to help fix his vehicle in an alley, according to a Little Rock Police Department report.
After Dupree declined to drive into the alley, the robber pulled a gun on him and demanded money and drugs, Dupree told authorities.
Police reported that Dupree handed over money and crack cocaine before firing a shot into the air to scare the robber.
Dupree later left the area in a dark green 1995 Mercury Marquis with his niece still inside the car, police said.
An off-duty officer, who reported hearing 11 gunshots fired in the area while parked at West 18th and Cross streets, followed the vehicle and then stopped it after witnesses said it was the car from which the shots were fired, police said.
Police found a black semiautomatic pistol, hydrocodone pills, crack cocaine and $300 inside the vehicle, the report states.
A description of the robber was not immediately available.
Dupree remained at the Pulaski County jail as of Friday morning on drug-related charges. His bail was set at $5,000, records show.
Metro on 03/25/2017