A Little Rock man was arrested this week after officers say he shot a 28-year-old man in the head in mid-December, according to court documents.
The victim was shot while sitting in a car in an apartment complex parking lot.
Terrance Denzmore, 27, was arrested on a charge of first-degree battery and transported to the Pulaski County jail, where he remained Thursday evening in lieu of a $100,000 bond.
Officers patrolling near Terra Vista Apartments in Little Rock just before 2 a.m. on Dec. 16 saw a man driving slowly with his car's headlights off, according to an affidavit. When officers stopped the car, they saw that the driver, Randall Hamilton, 28, had been shot in the face, the affidavit for a warrant for Denzmore's arrest said.
An ambulance took Hamilton, who was unable to speak, to a hospital, where he underwent surgery, according to previous reports.
The next day, investigators visited Hamilton, who could not speak because of a breathing tube in his throat but could give a written statement, the affidavit said. Hamilton told police that he had been sitting in his girlfriend's car at the apartment complex when a man wearing a dark hood and a short beard approached him, investigators reported.
The man asked Hamilton for some marijuana, but Hamilton told him he didn't have any, the affidavit said. About that time, Hamilton turned to answer a call on his cellphone and the stranger shot him in the back of the head, investigators said.
The bullet traveled from the back left of Hamilton's head and exited through his right cheek, the affidavit said. Hamilton remained conscious and watched as the shooter riffled through his pockets, stealing cash and then running away, the affidavit said.
Surveillance video from the apartment showed a man standing at the door of the white Impala in which Hamilton was sitting. The man is seen opening the door and leaning into the driver's side, the affidavit said.
The man runs out of view of the camera, then police said surveillance shows him returning to the scene in a gray SUV, getting out of the vehicle and walking around the parking lot until another car picks him up.
Detectives returned to Terra Vista Apartments and found a vehicle that appeared to be the one the gunman exited after the shooting, the affidavit said. The owner of the vehicle told police that the man was acting strangely on the day of the shooting and mentioned "hitting a lick," which the owner said meant that he intended to rob someone, court documents said.
The vehicle owner said he left the area after the gunman got out to "walk a minute," but returned after going to a friend's house nearby, the affidavit said. The owner then saw the gunman walking and picked him up again, the affidavit said.
The vehicle owner told officers that the gunman ran to his car and said, "Something happened, something happened," but would not tell him what happened.
The owner later suspected that the gunman had done something wrong, so he told him to get out of his car and left him, investigators reported.
On Dec. 21, Hamilton picked Denzmore out of a photo lineup, and officers requested a warrant for Denzmore's arrest on Dec. 31, according to reports.
Metro on 01/18/2019