Lake Village police are seeking a suspect in a shooting Monday that killed a college athlete and injured her brother.
Chief Percy Wilburn said 41-year-old Octavious Easterling, of Lake Village, is wanted in the death of 18-year-old Sierra’Li Wade.
Wade was a women’s basketball player and ROTC cadet at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, according to the university.
Wilburn said police believe Easterling drove in a Chevrolet Camaro to a basketball court at Henry Augustus Johnson Park where Wade and her brother, 23-year-old Deonte Balhin, were playing.
He got out of the car, fired at them and left, police believe.
Officers found Wade shot around 6 p.m. Monday, according to state police and Wilburn.
Her brother also suffered injuries, Wilburn said, but they were not life-threatening. Wade was taken to Chicot Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.
Police have impounded the Camaro, Wilburn said, and are working to determine a motive in the shooting.
Easterling is not related to the siblings, Wilburn said, but the violence is not believed to have been random. He said police believe the pair was targeted.
Wade, a freshman walk-on guard from Lake Village, hadn’t played in any of Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s first three games. UAPB coach Dawn Brown said Wade had been participating in practices and that the team was planning to start playing her in games when the Lady Lions began Southwestern Athletic Conference competition.
“Sierra, her spirit, she just made a presence around you,” Brown said Tuesday after the Lady Lions’ 92-51 loss at No. 20 Tennessee. “She’s 5-2, feisty, never wanted to give up. She pushed us. She was that teammate who, no matter what was going on, she would always make you laugh, make the coaches laugh, make you smile.”
UAPB senior forward Aiya El Hassan said Wade was "full of life."
“She was a really high-spirited girl. ... She never gave up during anything," El Hassan said. "She always pushed her hardest and she was always determined to finish a layup or finish any play or any drill we were doing.’’
The Associated Press contributed to this story.