FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas, Fayetteville police have arrested a homeless man as a suspect as they continue to investigate the death of a 51-year-old man found May 3 on undeveloped university land, Capt. Gary Crain said.
Quinton Lamar Taylor, 23, was interviewed Friday by police and then arrested, according to a police report released Saturday. Crain said Taylor was booked into the Washington County jail. He faces a charge of second-degree murder.
The police report states that more than one person said Taylor had spoken about being involved in a physical altercation with the victim, George Irving Morrison, who was found unresponsive after police were called to a report of a disturbance in an area with several homeless encampments.
"There was probably more than just the two of them involved in that fight, so the investigation is still ongoing," Crain said.
As far as a motive, "we don't have any way of knowing right now," Crain said. "There's nothing that leads us to believe it was a robbery at this point."
Taylor is listed in the report as a Fayetteville resident but had been living in the wooded area owned by UA in south Fayetteville, Crain said.
The site is more than a mile from the main university campus. Morrison was found south of West 19th Street and east of South School Avenue, an area apart from the campsites, Crain said earlier this month. Morrison was found when police began a search after arriving and not witnessing a disturbance, Crain has said.
Jessica Andrews, chief executive officer for 7 Hills Homeless Center, earlier this month said no exact count is available, but estimated that 80 to 100 people live in camps on the UA-owned property.
The university is in talks to sell the land, spokesman Steve Voorhies said earlier this month, with an organization called Serve NWA proposing to build microshelters on part of the land.
The police report states Morrison had blunt-force injuries. He was taken by ambulance to Washington Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead on May 3.
People who knew Morrison told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette he was homeless, though he was listed as a Mountainburg resident. Obituary information for Morrison stated that he is survived by three daughters and his mother.
Glenn Miller, mission coordinator for Genesis Church, a satellite campus of Central United Methodist Church, told the Democrat-Gazette earlier this month that Morrison had been approved for a housing grant through a city-run program to move into rental housing. But "property managers were rejecting him because of whatever was in his background or credit check and that kind of stuff," Miller said.
A criminal history search done by the Democrat-Gazette using a date-of-birth obtained from court records listed five misdemeanor convictions for Morrison, none since 2011, plus a 1994 drug conviction listed as neither a felony nor a misdemeanor. The search was done using a public database maintained by the Arkansas State Police.
In April, UA police officials at a law enforcement conference described safety concerns expressed by people at the homeless encampments.
"They say they don't feel safe sleeping at night," Lt. Ben Velasco said April 9 at a conference for campus police held in Rogers.
Metro on 05/27/2018