A suspect in one of three homicides that occurred Sept. 3 has been ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bond by District Judge John Kearney.
Vernon Lee McCraney III, 18, of Pine Bluff, wanted by police in the shooting death of 69-year-old Horace Harrington, 69, at Harrington's 3101 Lilac St. residence, was arrested Tuesday by North Little Rock police and was taken to Pine Bluff that afternoon for a police interview, then booked into the Jefferson County jail.
The shooting, one of three that day over a three-hour period, was reported about 2 p.m. When police arrived, they found Harrington unresponsive outside the residence. He was pronounced dead by Jefferson County Coroner Chad Kelley.
McCraney appeared Thursday morning via the Zoom videoconferencing link before Kearney for a probable-cause hearing in the matter.
According to the probable-cause affidavit, presented by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Beth Carson, Octavian Sims, a Pine Bluff police officer, arrived on the scene to find a number of people standing outside Harrington's residence and Harrington lying in the carport.
In the affidavit, Sims said a woman was running around the property screaming, "Vernon shot this old man. Vernon did it."
A witness told police, the affidavit said, that he was arriving home from Jefferson Square and saw a Black male dressed in a gray hoodie, black pants with a red stripe, and red shoes carrying a black backpack with a Nike symbol outside Harrington's residence about the time of the shooting.
"He told police that when he made the block, he discovered that Mr. Harrington was shot and the Black male in the hoodie had fled the scene," Carson read from the affidavit.
During an interview on Tuesday afternoon with police, Carson said, McCraney denied any involvement in Harrington's death, but told investigators that he knew he was being interviewed about a homicide because he "heard" he shot someone on Lilac Street and that a family member of Harrington's had posted on social media that he had shot someone.
Carson told the court that, during that interview, McCraney told investigators that he was on campus with his mother and grandmother at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. the day of the shooting, wearing different clothes and no backpack. After that, he told investigators, he went to his girlfriend's home in White Hall.
Contacted by detectives, the woman McCraney identified as his girlfriend gave a conflicting account, telling police that McCraney was with her in White Hall from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. the day of the shooting and that he did not go to school that day.
The affidavit said that an informant contacted Kevin Collins with the Pine Bluff Police Department Violent Crimes Unit, telling Collins that McCraney had posted a live social media video about the time of the shooting that showed Harrington's residence and that a check of his cellphone location record showed the cellphone to be in the area during that time.
Concluding the hearing, Kearney asked McCraney, whose reply was unintelligible, if he had legal representation.
"Do you have an attorney?" Kearney asked again.
"Not yet," McCraney replied.
Asked twice if he could afford an attorney, McCraney's replies were indistinct.
"Did you say yes?" Kearney asked.
"I said, yes sir," McCraney answered.
"Okay," Kearney said. "But you've not hired an attorney yet?"
McCraney told told the judge he had not.
"Out of caution the court is going to go ahead and appoint the public defender due to the seriousness of this charge," Kearney said. "Once you have retained an attorney you will notify the public defender, do you understand, sir?"
The judge ordered McCraney held on a charge of first-degree murder and set bail at $500,000, ordering McCraney to appear in District Court for a first appearance on the charge at 9 a.m. Oct. 21.
Harrington's homicide, which was reported about 2 p.m., was the first of three over a three-hour period that day.
Less than three hours later, police responded to another reported shooting about 2 miles to the west in the area of West 17th Avenue and South Elm Street and found 17-year-old Emonya Moten shot to death in front of a residence at 1704 S. Elm St.
A second man, identified as Cedric LaPoole, 23, of Pine Bluff, was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center for treatment of injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said.
While detectives were on the scene at 1704 S. Elm St., police received a report of a shooting at 25 Needles Drive, approximately 4½ miles to the northeast. When police arrived, they found Kavon Mitchell, 20, suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Mitchell was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center where he later died of his wounds.
About 3 a.m. Sunday, police arrested 23-year-old Hekeryin D. Cain at an apartment building at 4301 W. 18th Ave. in Pine Bluff on a charge of capital murder. Tuesday morning, Cain appeared in District Court before Kearney for a probable-cause hearing. Kearney ordered Cain held without bail until formal charges can be filed by Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter's office.
Police have said that Cain is a person of interest in other incidents and could receive additional charges.