LITTLE ROCK -- A judge ordered two teenagers held without bond Monday in the death of a Little Rock mother who was holding her toddler when she was robbed and shot while in her driveway this weekend.
The two face preliminary charges as adults on suspicion of capital murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault and theft of property in the shooting death of 27-year-old Eunice Lopez. She was one of three people who died in unrelated shootings in Little Rock on Sunday.
Police said 18-year-old Ramale Collier and a 15-year-old were arrested after separately turning themselves in late Sunday. A Little Rock District Court judge ordered them held without bond early Monday.
No attorney information was available for either teen in police or court records. The Pulaski County Public Defender's Office said no court information had been transferred as of early Monday afternoon.
The arrest affidavit said a group of about six boys was walking by Lopez's home about 10 a.m. Sunday when they saw her removing her toddler from her car. Police interviewed several of the boys, and two told officers that the 15-year-old said he was going to rob the woman.
A few of the teens approached the woman, and one of them grabbed her purse, according to the affidavit. Police said Lopez's child fell to the ground, and Lopez was dragged because the purse would not come off her shoulder.
Witnesses told police the teen then shot her in the torso, according to the affidavit. She died at a hospital about an hour later, police said.
A witness saw the boys run with Lopez's purse and go through it in a nearby backyard, according to the court document. Police searched that house and took four boys, one as young as 11, into custody for questioning. Police later released the four boys and issued warrants for Collier and the 15-year-old.
Two of the boys told police they heard Collier ask the 15-year-old why he had shot the woman, and that the boy had said he hadn't meant to, according to court documents.
A news release early Monday from a Little Rock police spokesman said he did not anticipate additional arrests.
State Desk on 02/02/2016