Arkansas vape shop clerk cleared of charges in fatal shooting

A vape shop employee who fatally shot a man during a September armed robbery at the shop in Goobertown will not face criminal charges, a prosecutor said.

Second Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington said in a Wednesday letter to the Craighead County sheriff that a grand jury returned a decision of "no true bill" on Dec. 12 against the unnamed clerk who shot and killed Billy Carl Raines, 25, on Sept. 20 during a robbery.

“No True Bill is a legal procedure to dismiss charges against a defendant when the grand jury does not find enough evidence to charge the defendant with violating a criminal law,” Ellington wrote.

Craighead County sheriff's office investigators Ron Richardson and Charles Garr gave "extensive testimony" at the grand jury's session, Ellington said.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Garr was called to Emerald’s Triangle LLC, a vape shop in Goobertown, on Sept. 20 and was told that Raines had been killed by a worker at the store and that his girlfriend, Kory Taylor Kampmeyer, 25, of Bassett, was in custody.

Investigators said Raines brandished a weapon when he went inside the store and a shootout between him and the clerk ensued. Raines was struck and died in the parking lot, a report states.

"Kory said they were broke and needed money," Garr wrote in an affidavit.

Kampmeyer is accused of acting as the lookout in the armed robbery in Goobertown.

Garr said when he asked Kampmeyer if she was the lookout, she replied, “I guess.”

Kampmeyer was charged with aggravated robbery, a Class Y felony, according to court documents.

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