The pizzeria where a Little Rock customer was shot and killed Thursday reopened hours before an employee there was arrested on a first-degree murder charge Friday afternoon.
Little Rock police arrested Domeque Latrice Jones, 26, just before 5 p.m. Friday near Capitol Avenue, Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Michael Ford said.
Investigators believe Jones, who was employed Thursday at the Little Caesars at 3412 S. University Ave., used a handgun to fatally shoot Marcus Fleming, 33, on Thursday afternoon while both men were in the pizzeria.
A sign on the door of the Little Caesars directed customers to use the drive-through Friday, saying the small front area where customers order food was "closed for renovation." The signs were stapled onto plywood that covered shattered glass and bullet holes in the small establishment's window and door.
At about 4:45 p.m. Thursday, officers responded to the pizzeria after several people called 911 reporting that someone was shooting and they were hearing multiple gunshots. Emergency responders transported Fleming, who had been shot multiple times, to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where he was later pronounced dead, police spokesman officer Eric Barnes said Friday.
Several people were in or near the business at the time of the shooting, and Barnes said they told police that Fleming and Jones had argued before Jones began shooting. Several bullets traveled through the window and toward busy South University Avenue. Investigators said no vehicles or other structures were damaged in the gunfire.
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Jones ran before police arrived, Ford said, but police identified him through witness statements. Investigators also retrieved video footage from at least one of the five security cameras inside the pizzeria, Ford said.
The front room of the business is a cramped space about 20-feet-by-15-feet with several large furnishings in front of the bar between customers and workers. Ford said Jones was working Thursday when Fleming went to the pizzeria.
A Little Caesars employee said Friday that all of the people working Thursday were given the weekend off. A supervisor said the employee handbook dictates no firearms are allowed on the premises, whether carried by employees or patrons. The supervisor directed all further questions to the chain's cooperate office, which did not return phone calls by press time Friday.
Whether investigators knew of any prior connection between Jones and Fleming is not clear. According to addresses released in a police report Friday, the men live about 3 miles apart in central Little Rock.
Jones was arrested as a teen on charges of theft of property in 2013, but otherwise has no criminal record publicly available in court documents.
Fleming's slaying is the 30th homicide in Little Rock in 2019.
Metro on 08/31/2019
