TEXARKANA -- Miller County prosecutors have formally charged two men with capital murder in connection with a shooting Feb. 3 at a local apartment complex.
Jucquian Martez Tyson, 22, and Keanu White, 23, are accused of killing Phillip Lee for the $3,000 to $4,000 in cash believed to have been in his possession, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
Texarkana police were called to the Village Park South Apartments on East Street shortly before noon Feb. 3. Lee was found on the ground outside his apartment with gunshot wounds to his chest, side and wrist, the affidavit said.
He was pronounced dead that evening at a local hospital.
Using video surveillance, police identified a silver Lincoln Town Car as possibly involved in the crime. The car's owner was found and interviewed and determined not to have been in possession of the car at the time of the shooting.
The Lincoln's owner traded cars with Tyson and White about 9 a.m. Feb. 3 at the Sandflat Center, according to the affidavit. The Lincoln's owner took possession of a black and white Crown Victoria, an old police car, and White and Tyson drove away in the Lincoln, the affidavit said.
Sometime after noon, White and Tyson returned the Lincoln to its owner during a meeting at Sunset Apartments. The Lincoln's owner told police Tyson "seemed off" and was listening to a police scanner app on his cellphone, according to the affidavit. The Lincoln's owner also told investigators he hid the car at his mother's home after hearing via the police scanner app that authorities were searching for it.
According to court records and earlier reports, Tyson, White and Lee were charged previously as co-defendants in the burglary of a local pawnshop.
White is serving a five-year term of felony probation for residential burglary and theft of a firearm in Miller County. He pleaded guilty to the charges in October, court records show. A motion filed in mid-February to revoke White's probation is pending.
At the time of his arrest in Lee's death, Tyson was free on a $100,000 bond posted in a pending robbery case in Miller County. Records show Tyson made a court appearance in that case Feb. 4, the day after Lee's murder. Prosecutors filed a motion to revoke his probation in mid-February, and an order revoking his bond in that case has been granted by a circuit judge.
Bail for both Tyson and White is set at $500,000 in the capital murder case.
Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Black signed off Monday on formal charges against Tyson and White. Both cases are assigned to Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson.
Metro on 03/27/2020