Two men died Friday morning in Little Rock's first fatal shooting of the new year and the city's second double homicide in eight days, according to police spokesmen.
Police had not released the identities of the two men who were shot near the intersection of West Roosevelt Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive as of Friday evening, saying the investigation is in its early stages.
The shooting happened eight days after police were on the scene of another double homicide, where a mother and her 2-year-old son were found shot dead in an apartment parking lot in southwest Little Rock.
A 911 caller reported a shooting had occurred at 10:14 a.m., according to dispatch records. Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Michael Ford said police arrived minutes later and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound.
The man was transported to UAMS Medical Center, where he died, Ford said.
A second victim arrived at Arkansas Children's Hospital but also died from his injuries, Ford said. The man was not transported by Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services, meaning the man either drove himself or was driven to the hospital by another person.
The hospital is approximately 1 mile north of the scene of the shooting.
Ford said a red vehicle was seen leaving the scene, but no other suspect information was available Friday evening.
Businesses sit on each corner of the busy Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and West Roosevelt Road intersection.
Target Package, a faded gray-and-red liquor store, sits on the northwest corner. Across the street southward is an Expressmart that sees near-constant traffic as people buy lottery tickets and mill in and out of barred doors.
East across Martin Luther King Jr. Drive is the Roosevelt Superstore, emblazoned with a wide yellow-and-red sign and dozens of advertisements. Its doors also have heavy metal grates.
North of the superstore is Coleman Auto Repair, a one-story, brick establishment that has been in business since at least 2003, according to Pulaski County property records.
Just behind the auto repair shop, investigators and crime scene officers strung up yellow tape around a black glove, a small black bag and a camouflage backpack that was just a few feet away.
Alhassan Abdo, who has worked at the Roosevelt Superstore for about three months, said he was in the back of the business when he heard multiple shots ring out. Abdo said he looked out of the store's front door and saw two men standing near the intersection but could see little else before he quickly went back inside the store.
It wasn't the first time he's heard gunfire from his seat behind the counter, Abdo said.
"Maybe three minutes later, the police came," he said. "It was very fast."
Soon after, officers came by to ask him if he'd seen anything and to collect the store's video surveillance. Abdo said he hadn't had a chance to look at the surveillance and didn't know if anything of note had been caught on tape.
Police lines were taken down by Friday afternoon, but Ford said investigators were still out looking for potential witnesses and interviewing bystanders.
Any updated information on the shootings would be released after detectives turn in their report, he said.
"While they're actively interviewing people, they're not writing reports," Ford said. "These interviews can take four, sometimes six hours depending on the situation. ... It's still a long process, but you're [investigating] a murder. You have to be sure."
Though one detective takes the lead in each homicide, Ford said the investigative division works collaboratively on each case, meaning officers working on last week's double homicide are likely working on Friday morning's shootings as well.
Jamika Lewis, 23, and her 2-year-old son, Ja'Shun Watson, were found Dec. 27 lying in a parking lot of Eagle Hill Apartments near 25 Par Drive, police spokesman Officer Eric Barnes said last week. Both had been fatally shot.
Officers found another of Lewis' children, a girl younger than a year old, in a nearby vehicle and transported her to a nearby hospital to be checked out. The baby was uninjured, Barnes said, and has since been released from the hospital.
Ford said detectives are still investigating the December shootings.
The slayings of Lewis and Ja'Shun were the 40th and 41st homicides of 2018, and the last for the year.
Metro on 01/05/2019