An argument reportedly over a dog led to a local man being shot three times, and a bizarre vehicle pursuit over several city blocks around the incident in west Hot Springs, Monday afternoon.
HSPD Cpl. McCrary Means said officers responded around 1 p.m. to a residence at 213 Campbell St. regarding a shooting that had just occurred and arrived to find a black male in his early 20s with three gunshot wounds to his upper body. The victim was transported by LifeNet to a local hospital where his condition was not known late Monday.
According to witnesses, the victim had been talking to someone in a gray four-door vehicle when several gunshots were heard and the vehicle fled the scene, leaving the victim on the ground.
A "be on the lookout" alert was immediately broadcast to all units, and within minutes police had spotted the suspect vehicle, a gray 2000 Ford Taurus, and attempted to make a traffic stop, but the driver refused to comply.
At one point, members of the media on the scene were told to get back in their cars, and onlookers were told to clear the street, because it appeared the suspect was headed back to that area, and it wasn't known whether or not he was still armed.
After a short pursuit through several of the surrounding streets, including Albert Pike, Cooper, Hobson and Gardner, and through several parking lots in the area, the suspect doubled back to the Krista Brook Apartments, located at 416 Campbell St., two blocks from the shooting, where he was blocked in and apprehended.
The driver, later identified as Deion Johnson, 21, who lists an address of Apt. B at the Krista Brook apartments, was detained until the witness could be brought to the scene and reportedly identified him as the shooter.
During the pursuit, officers saw the suspect throw a pistol out of the window as he drove by on Cooper Street. The pistol was later recovered and determined to have been reported stolen out of Hot Spring County.
Johnson was taken to the police department for questioning by detectives who determined the victim had been shot during an argument over a dog, HSPD detective J. Burfeind said.
Johnson was later charged with felony counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, first-degree battery and theft by receiving and a misdemeanor count of fleeing in a vehicle. There was a zero bond on the unlawful discharge count and the bonds on the other charges totaled $9,500. He is set to appear Sept. 30 in Garland County District Court.
The victim was transported by LifeNet to a local hospital and his condition was not known Monday evening.
A neighbor of the victim told The Sentinel-Record he was working on his computer when he heard three gunshots and then heard a woman screaming. He said he didn't leave his yard, so he didn't see the victim or the suspect.
Another female neighbor said Monday's shooting was the second shots fired incident they have had on their block in less than a month. She said she came outside after the incident was over and didn't see the suspect.
Hot Springs detectives and members of the department's crime scenes unit converged on the scene moments after the shooting and began gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses to the incident.
Local on 09/16/2014