HOT SPRINGS — A Hot Springs man has been arrested in the Nov. 9 shooting of a 16-year-old boy.
Jamar Ray’Von Harris, 19, who lists a Vantage Street address, was taken into custody around 2 p.m. Thursday and charged with first-degree battery, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Harris appeared via video Friday morning in Garland County District Court and pleaded innocent to the charge. A felony review hearing to determine whether the charge will be bound over to Garland County Circuit Court is set for Dec. 18. Judge Meredith Switzer also issued a court order barring Harris from any future contact with the victim.
The victim, who was shot in the chest and back, was initially taken to the emergency room at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and “had no pulse” for several minutes, his mother said. Neither the victim nor his mother were identified by the Sentinel-Record.
“They wouldn’t give up on him, and just kept working on him and brought him back,” she said. “They saved his life.”
The victim was later transferred to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock where he has undergone one surgery on his back, she said, noting that he lost a kidney, his spleen, part of his liver and part of his pancreas.
One bullet also hit his spine, and “there is a possibility he could be paralyzed. We’re still waiting to find out,” the boy’s mother said.
According to the probable cause affidavit prepared by Garland County sheriff’s investigators, on Nov. 9, shortly after 6:30 p.m., deputies went to a residence in the 100 block of Fernwood Street after receiving a call from a female resident about shots fired. When they arrived, they found the victim in the carport area with gunshot wounds.
Another male youth was present at the residence and was interviewed by investigators. He told police he had been in contact with Harris, who wanted to buy some marijuana, according to the affidavit.
The youth told police that the victim and Harris had come to an agreement on a transaction of 2 ounces of marijuana for $380. Harris later arrived at the Fernwood residence and the youth, the victim and Harris were all sitting inside a vehicle in the carport, the youth told police.
He said Harris presented four $100 bills and the victim told the youth to go inside to get change out of his bag, according to the affidavit. The youth said that while he was inside getting the money, the female resident asked, “What was that noise?” The youth returned outside and found the victim injured in the carport, the affidavit said.
The youth told police that Harris had fled the scene. A warrant was later issued for Harris’ arrest.
The victim’s mother said the youth’s version of events is “clearly hearsay” and differed from what she heard from several other people there that day.
She said her son was there at his girlfriend’s house with some fellow students from his private school, and they were helping his girlfriend get ready for the return of her father, who had been on a military deployment.
She said she believed her son was shot by someone who went there “to rob him and to take his backpack. They thought he had money.”
She said the youth was interviewed about 15 minutes after everything happened, and she questioned his version of events.
