A 19-year-old accused of firing the first shot during the gunfire last year at Little Rock's Power Ultra Lounge that injured more than two dozen people was among four men charged Wednesday in the 2017 homicide of a 14-year-old boy.
The body of Cyncere Alexander was found by his brother July 14, 2017, on the floor of an apartment on Green Mountain Drive, according to a news release. Alexander’s brother told police he originally believed Alexander had been badly beaten and was unconscious, but it was later determined he had been shot multiple times.
Alexander was dead before emergency personnel arrived, according to police documents.
Detectives identified Tyler Jackson, 19, Machita Mitchell, 42, Kenwan Sherrod, 21, and Keterrioun Chandler, 20, as suspects, according to officer Steve Moore of the city's Police Department.
Arrest warrants were obtained Tuesday for all four suspects. Chandler surrendered to police shortly before midnight Wednesday, and the other three suspects were already in jail on unrelated charges and were served warrants Thursday, the release states.
All four are charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery.
Jackson, a Conway native, told police that he fired the first shot July 1, 2017, during the Power Ultra Lounge shooting, which left 28 people injured. Jackson was the second person arrested in relation to that shooting and was charged with 10 counts of aggravated assault and two counts of second-degree battery in that case.
Jackson was in the Faulkner County jail with no bond set Thursday afternoon on unrelated charges of felony fleeing, theft by receiving, felony aggravated assault, criminal mischief, no drivers’ license, failure to obey traffic control, reckless driving, speeding and failure to wear a seat belt.
Chandler, Sherrod and Mitchell were in the Pulaski County jail with no bond set Thursday afternoon.
Alexander's father, Chris Lamont Alexander, was sentenced to six years in prison earlier this year after pleading guilty to felony charges including fleeing. He had claimed he'd given up a life of crime to crusade against Little Rock street gangs and keep teenagers from joining them, though a federal grand jury indicted him on drug-trafficking charges linked to the city's gang wars months before his guilty plea.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.