Thief drops through roof, steals smokes
A burglar entered a Little Rock liquor store early Tuesday through the roof and stole $150 worth of cigarettes, police said.
The Little Rock Police Department responded at 4:50 a.m. to an alarm at Target Liquor at 1500 W. Roosevelt Road.
The store owner arrived a short time later, telling authorities that he observed the burglar in a surveillance video entering through roof panels inside the liquor store.
A police report noted that the thief appeared to have broken through a wall on the west side of the business and climbed over a cooler before entering through the roof.
Authorities said Newport cigarettes valued at $150 were stolen during the burglary.
No suspects were named, and no arrests had been made at the time of the report.
2 cafes' safes resist efforts of burglars
Two Tropical Smoothie Cafes in Little Rock were burglarized within hours of each other early Tuesday, authorities said.
The break-ins -- one on the city's west side and the second in the Riverdale neighborhood -- both involved two burglars in hoodies who were unsuccessful in their attempts to open the restaurants' safes, police said.
Officer Richard Hilgeman, a spokesman for the Little Rock Police Department, said it was not clear Wednesday morning whether the burglaries were related.
Police said the first burglary happened at 1:12 a.m. at the Tropical Smoothie at 11900 Kanis Road. A report noted that officers were called to the location at 6:35 a.m. Tuesday and spoke with an employee.
The employee said he found the front door of the business broken open when he arrived at work that morning. While reviewing surveillance video, the worker observed two burglars, both dressed in light clothing and hoodies with their faces covered, pulling on a safe.
After several attempts to open the safe, the burglars fled the restaurant, police said.
Another Tropical Smoothie burglary was reported at 2:50 a.m. Tuesday at the restaurant's location at 1510 Rebsamen Park Road.
An employee who reviewed surveillance video in that break-in told authorities that two people used a crowbar to break the glass front door to the Riverdale eatery, a report states.
Officers reviewed the video, noting that the two burglars later attempted to open a safe. When unsuccessful, they tried to steal two registers, causing "substantial damage" to one of them, according to authorities.
The burglars in the Riverdale break-in were described in the report as wearing hoodies, face masks and gloves.
No property was reported stolen in either burglary.
Drive-by gunfire hits car, shoe store
A Little Rock man ducked for cover as a drive-by shooter fired off several rounds outside a shoe store Tuesday evening.
Officers arrived at Walter's Red Wing Shoes, located at 7515 Geyer Springs Road, around 6:30 p.m. and spoke with a 34-year-old man in the parking lot.
The man told police that he was chatting with a friend near his car when a stranger drove up in a black, four-door Honda.
The driver told the man's friend that he was the 34-year-old's "homie," the report said. Then, as the driver pulled out of the parking lot, he began shooting, police said.
Four rounds were found in the 34-year-old's car, and at least one bullet struck the facade of the shoe store, police said.
Officers searched the area but said they could not find the gunman or his vehicle.
Boat crew rescues LR bridge jumper
Little Rock firefighters rescued a 22-year-old woman from the Arkansas River after she jumped from a pedestrian bridge near the Clinton Presidential Center on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
Police were called at 4:26 p.m. to the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge, where an officer found the woman standing on a steel beam about 10 feet below the bridge's walkway, according to a report.
The woman told the officer that she wanted to kill herself, according to the report.
She also told police she was schizophrenic but that her medication was not working, police said.
After jumping, the woman was rescued by a Little Rock Fire Department boat crew, police said. She was then taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation, a police spokesman said.
Metro on 01/12/2017