An 18-year-old man wanted for the alleged capital murder of a 16-year-old was captured by authorities Friday.
The Pine Bluff Police Department announced Monday that Cartez Davis was located in a vehicle along with two others, stopped and taken into custody. Davis is accused of killing Rashad Holden, 16, on July 18 at a residence in the 1100 block of West Fifth Avenue.
Davis was 17 at the time of the alleged killing.
A warrant was issued for Davis’ arrest in late July, according to police. Davis is also charged with two counts of terroristic acts.
Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service teamed with Pine Bluff police to search for Davis.
“On Dec. 2, 2022, investigators from the Pine Bluff Police Department developed information that Mr. Davis had returned to Pine Bluff and was in a specific area in a specific vehicle,” according to an updated be-on-the-lookout release from the police. “Detectives conducted surveillance on the area and were able to locate Mr. Davis in the vehicle along with two other people.”
Davis was booked into the Dub Brassell Detention Center on a charge of capital murder. The two other occupants of the vehicle, India Rogers and Taishauhn West, both 18, were also booked into the jail on suspicion of hindering Davis’ apprehension.
Police said a 9-mm gun was recovered during the arrest and sent to a crime lab for analysis.
Naomi Jimenez, 16, was also charged with capital murder in connection to Holden’s death and held in the Jack Jones Juvenile Detention Center. A warrant for her arrest was served in September. She is scheduled to undergo a forensic evaluation at the state hospital in Little Rock on Feb. 28, according to court documents.
According to a police report, as reported in a previous Commercial article, Holden’s mother told an officer while standing in the driveway: “They shot my baby and took off in a blue vehicle.” Jimenez allegedly told police she and Davis went to Holden’s house to sell him marijuana and confront him about a stolen gun. According to an affidavit, Davis started shooting while he and Jimenez were talking to the victim. Jimenez allegedly told police she had a gun but it was located under the driver’s seat of a car and later recovered.
A witness told police both Davis and Jimenez were shooting in “rapid succession” and walked away from the house when they were finished, according to an affidavit. Those suspects allegedly took off in a vehicle that police later searched, recovering pistols and a jar of marjiuana.
Police located Holden in a back bedroom, unresponsive and bleeding from the upper body.
Will Jones, the chief deputy prosecuting attorney for the 11th Judicial District West (Jefferson and Lincoln counties), said Davis will likely make his first appearance in circuit court in January.
It was not immediately clear when Rogers and West would make an initial court appearance.
CORRECTIONS: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Rashad Holden's age and misspelled Naomi Jimenez's last name on some references.