A 41-year-old man was arrested Friday in connection with the shooting death of a University of Arkansas Pine Bluff women's basketball player and ROTC cadet, according to an Arkansas State Police spokesman.
U.S. marshals arrested Octavius Easterling at approximately 4 p.m. Friday in North Little Rock, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said.
Arkansas State Police investigators had issued a warrant for Easterling's arrest on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree battery, Sadler said.
Easterling is a suspect in the killing of Sierra'Li Nicole Wade.
Wade was playing basketball in her hometown of Lake Village in Chicot County when she was fatally shot around 6 p.m. Nov. 25 in Henry Augustus Johnson Park, according to previous reports.
A second person was injured in the shooting, but the injury was not life-threatening. The shooting occurred two days before Thanksgiving while Wade was at home on break.
She was a freshman at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, where she was a cadet in ROTC and a guard on the basketball team, according to a statement from the university at the time of her death.
The Lake Village Police Department said in a post on social media that Easterling was arrested and transported to the Pulaski County jail Friday afternoon.
Sadler said Lake Village police officers were on their way to Little Rock late Friday to pick up Easterling and transport him to the Ashley County jail. His first court date will be Monday.
Sadler said special agents with the state police's criminal investigation division identified Easterling as a suspect as early as the day after the homicide and worked with U.S. marshals to locate him.
An obituary for Wade said she was born in San Diego and was buried Monday.
Metro on 12/07/2019