The older brother of a teenage murder suspect is believed to be the third man involved in a February drug-related robbery that led to the slaying of a Little Rock teen, but authorities don't yet have enough evidence to charge him, police and prosecutors said Thursday.
Terrance Reynolds, 19, and Alvin Chaffin Jr., 21, both of Pine Bluff, have been charged with capital murder, aggravated robbery and first-degree battery over the shooting that wounded three people and killed Alexander Powell "Alec" Reed, 18. Prosecutors are seeking life sentences for the men.
Reed was shot twice in the head while trying to stop a holdup at the Eagle Hill apartments at the corner of Baseline and Colonel Miller roads.
Testifying at Chaffin's bond hearing Thursday, detective Chuck Ray said police believe Reynolds killed Reed, shooting the younger man when he tried to prevent Reynolds and the third man from robbing the apartment tenants.
That third man is believed to be Kevonta Reynolds, 21, the detective told Circuit Judge Barry Sims. Two of the shooting's survivors identified Terrance Reynolds from a police photo lineup, prosecutors said, but Kevonta Reynolds was not charged because the witnesses could not pick him out of a photo lineup.
The survivors told police that Reed and another man, later determined to be Chaffin, had gone to the apartment of Quinn Muller, 22, and Stephanie Waters, 21, to buy marijuana. Chaffin let two other men into the apartment, and one of them suddenly pulled a gun and demanded the occupants' belongings, Ray said.
Waters was the first to be shot, in the back, as she tried to run to the rear of the apartment, the detective said. Muller brought out his own gun and started shooting from the kitchen, Ray said.
Reed grabbed Kevonta Reynolds' arm to prevent the holdup but was shot in the head by Terrance Reynolds, the detective testified. Also wounded in the exchange of gunfire was 19-year-old Rachael Benson, another occupant of the apartment.
At least two guns were fired during the shootout, and the gunfire heavily damaged the apartment, Ray told the judge.
"You couldn't hardly walk without stepping on shell casings," the detective said.
Police knew that one of the robbers had been wounded because of a trail of blood that led from the apartment to the parking lot.
Investigators learned the Reynolds brothers' names from Chaffin, Ray told the judge.
Chaffin was the first suspect to be identified, according to the detective. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, police put out a notice to area hospitals to be on the lookout for anyone turning up with a bullet wound, he said. A wounded Chaffin was found at a Pine Bluff hospital that same day, he said.
Chaffin initially denied involvement in the shooting, Ray told the judge. But when pressed in questioning, Chaffin gave a "complete statement," describing how the shooting started, the detective said.
Chaffin denied firing a weapon, telling investigators that he'd been given a gun by one of the Reynolds brothers. But he said he only pointed it at a man in the parking lot, Bobby Lane Carrell of East End.
Carrell, a friend of Reed's, told police he'd been waiting in the parking lot for Reed when he was ordered at gunpoint to lie on the ground while the armed men fled in a car, Ray told the judge.
Chaffin has been held without bail since his arrest two days after the slaying. His lawyers, Bret Qualls and Lott Rolfe, asked the judge to consider setting bail at $100,000, citing his cooperation with police and that investigators don't believe he fired a gun during the shooting.
But Sims declined to allow bail for Chaffin, siding with deputy prosecutor Amanda Fields, who had opposed it.
Fields cited Chaffin's ties to Kevonta Reynolds, noting that he and Chaffin were arrested together two days before Christmas in Pine Bluff by state police. A traffic stop of Reynolds' car turned up two guns in the vehicle, one of which had been reported being stolen, she said. Both men are awaiting trial on charges related to the stolen gun.
Fields also said that Chaffin's blood found at the homicide scene, combined with his statement, leads her to believe there's a strong likelihood he will be convicted at his trial in March.
Metro on 11/08/2017