A 22-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting a friend over a firearm in the parking lot of a Little Rock church last week, police records show.
Quincy Braxton of Little Rock has been arrested in the slaying of 21-year-old Robert Lewis Rockett, who was found fatally shot on March 27 in his car in the parking lot at 2100 S. Tyler St., police said.
A witness told police she saw Braxton get into a car, shoot the driver twice and run back to her car, which he entered with a gray and black pistol, according to police documents obtained through Little Rock District Court.
Rockett’s mother, Victoria McDaniel, described her son as a funny person who loved fishing and enjoyed spending time with his nephews and his 6-month-old daughter.
“He was just loved, and he was a great person,” she said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Little Rock officers responded to the shooting at 5:41 p.m. on March 27 and spoke with Anthony Rockett, the victim’s brother, according to Police Department news release. The man said he found his brother after family members were not able to reach the victim on the phone, the release says.
The release said police found Rockett unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds. An ambulance took Rockett to UAMS Medical Center, but he died a short time later, the department said in the release.
In an interview, a witness told police she had been driving her gray Mustang on March 27, with Braxton riding in the front passenger seat and another person riding in the back, according to the police documents obtained from Little Rock District Court.
According to the witness, Braxton told her he needed to meet his friend at Tyler and West 22nd streets.
As they pulled into the church parking lot, she said, Braxton told her he wanted his friend’s gun “but that he couldn’t take it from him because his friend would call the police on him,” according the police documents.
The witness told authorities that Braxton said he was going to have to “‘make him wet’” and take the firearm from him, the document said.
“[The witness] stated that ‘make him wet’ meant that he was going to kill him,” the document says.
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She also reported seeing Braxton get into the front passenger seat of a white car, shoot the vehicle’s driver twice and run back to the front passenger seat of her car, according to the document. The witness said he got into her vehicle with a “gray and black pistol.”
The witness said she then drove Braxton to the area of Elm and West 17th and dropped him off, according to the police records.
The police documents say Braxton, during an interview with authorities, initially denied being in the area or in the vehicle.
After several minutes, according to the document, Braxton “admitted to being in the vehicle and holding the gun but stated that the victim Robert Rockett shot himself twice in the head.” Braxton told police he got scared and fled, taking the weapon.
The document did not specify whether “the vehicle” refferred to the gray Mustang or Rockett’s white 1999 Honda Accord.
Anthony Rockett told police he got a call from his sister-in-law, who reported she had not heard from Robert Rockett in several hours, according to the police documents. The man told authorities he went to the Tyler Street location, where his sister-in-law had tracked the victim using a cellphone application.
Detectives also spoke with Robert Rockett’s wife after the shooting, the police documents said.
She told police Rockett got a call around 3:15 p.m. and he said he was leaving to meet up with “Quincy.”
“The victim’s wife stated that she was never able to make contact with Robert Rockett again after that point,” the police documents said.
The woman tracked Rockett’s cellphone to the area of West 21st and South Tyler streets, “where it stayed stationary for several hours,” the police document said.
The wife, according to the document, said she identified “Quincy” through Facebook and said she thought his real name was Quincy Braxton.
Detectives, the police document says, also spoke with a witness who reported hearing a gunshot from the parking lot and seeing a gray Mustang leave the scene.
“[The witness] stated that he attempted to call 911 but was unable to get through,” according to the document.
Lt. Michael Ford, a department spokesman, said Tuesday afternoon that the department was waiting to get specific information on the 911 call and was trying to verify that the witness called.
A day after the March 27 shooting, officers with the Violent Crime Apprehension Team found Braxton standing on the passenger side of a gray Mustang backed into a driveway, the police document says. Braxton fled on foot and officers saw him “discard” a gray and black Smith & Wesson handgun before being taken into custody, police said.
The witness, who reported seeing the shooting, was also taken into custody during the incident, the police records show.
It’s not the first time Robert Rockett was the victim of a shooting. Police said that a March 2017 shooting left him in critical condition. After the shooting, McDaniel said it took him a while to heal.
Rockett’s funeral, she said, is scheduled for Saturday.
“We are expecting over 150 people,” she said.
