Hot Springs police on Tuesday arrested a Little Rock man in connection with a fatal shooting July 16 on Broadway Street, alleging he drove the shooter to and from the scene that morning.
Kirkland Eugene Litzsey, 30, was taken into custody in Little Rock by the U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Probation and Parole and extradited to Hot Springs on a felony charge of first-degree murder, punishable by up to life in prison, for the death of Timothy Edmund Martin, 37, of Hot Springs, who was reportedly shot multiple times in the head.
"We don't suspect (Litzsey) was the shooter, but he did take an active role in the shooting," Cpl. Kirk Zaner told The Sentinel-Record Wednesday. "It was great detective work. They did an extremely thorough job."
Officers responded around 1:15 a.m. July 16 to a report of a shooting that had just occurred and found Martin deceased in the driver's seat of a 2007 Infinity G35 parked on the side of the street in the 400 block of Broadway Street.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a female witness was a passenger in the car when the shooting occurred, but was not injured. Officers found three spent .40-caliber shell casings at the scene.
A review of security video from Boot Scooters, 421 Broadway, across the street revealed the shooter had ambushed Martin as he sat in his car. The shooter, described as a black man, wearing blue jean shorts, a dark shirt and shoes, with a white T-shirt draped over his head, approached the car from behind on the passenger side and then fired into the car through the passenger window, killing Martin.
The shooter approached the car on foot from the area of Orange and Rugg streets and fled back the same way after firing the shots, the affidavit said, noting the entire incident took six to seven seconds.
A male witness at Boot Scooters provided a description of the shooter and two other witnesses who were on Rugg Street said they saw the shooter run from the area and get into the front passenger seat of a newer model silver Dodge Challenger that was waiting for him. The Challenger then sped south on Rugg toward Grand Avenue. Witnesses noted the same vehicle had come through northbound on Rugg shortly before the shooting.
Martin was previously injured in an exchange of gunfire with two other men on March 11 near the busy intersection of Grand and Central avenues that also injured three others, including a bystander, police later confirmed.
At around 2:45 a.m. July 16, a relative of Martin's showed up on the scene on Broadway and told police Martin had confided in him the name of the man who shot at him on March 11. The relative said the man had just shown up at Boot Scooters. As Detective Scott Lampinen was talking with the relative, officers noted a silver 2015 Dodge Challenger, registered to Litzsey, had just pulled into the lot at Boot Scooters.
Lampinen located the vehicle and noted it was silver with black wheels and tires and black stripes down both sides just below the windows. A review of more video from Boot Scooters allegedly revealed the man identified by the relative in the March incident was with Litzsey in the Challenger and he was wearing a yellow shirt, blue jean shorts and black shoes. Litzsey was reportedly wearing a black shirt, white pants and white shoes.
Lampinen retrieved video from Hardee's, 249 W. Grand, that reportedly showed the suspect vehicle headed south on Rugg, west on Grand and then south on Oak right after the shooting and noted it was "an exact match" to Litzsey's car.
On July 18, Lampinen spoke to the man identified by the relative who claimed he had been at Rumors Bar, 3812 Central Ave., and Boot Scooters that night, but he declined to speak any further about the case, the affidavit states.
Lampinen obtained video from Rumors recorded the morning of July 16 that reportedly showed Litzsey pulling into its lot at around 12:15 a.m. and leaving 15 minutes later. Based on numerous other security videos Lampinen collected and Litzsey's cellphone records, he was able to track Litzsey and the other man from 12:30 to 5 a.m., the affidavit said.
Lampinen noted that, in one video, Litzsey's passenger is clearly seen wearing a yellow shirt and was with Litzsey as he went from Rumors to Boot Scooters, arriving at around 12:48 a.m. They left 10 minutes later and went west on Grand. They returned five minutes later traveling from the area of Orange and Rugg, at the same time the earlier witnesses had reported seeing the shooter's vehicle northbound on Rugg.
At the same time, Martin and his passenger arrived at Boot Scooters, and the two vehicles passed each other as Litzsey pulled into the club's south lot. Martin pulled around and parked in front of the club. As Litzsey pulled through the lot and back onto Broadway, Martin pulled out and then parked across the street, the affidavit said.
Litzsey passed by Martin again headed to Orange Street and up Rugg at around 1:07 a.m., then circled the block and passed by Martin again two minutes later returning to Rugg. The shooting occurred five minutes later.
After the shooting, the affidavit states Litzsey's vehicle traveled south on Rugg to Grand to Oak then Maurice and eventually headed back east on Grand. Using cellphone records, detectives tracked it to Malvern and the King Expressway at around 1:33 a.m. and back at Rumors a few minutes later.
At 1:40 a.m., the Challenger pulled into the lot at Rumors and Litzsey and the man named by the relative got out and entered the bar. It was noted the man with Litzsey was wearing a dark shirt over his yellow shirt, blue jean shorts and black shoes at that point, which is what the shooter was described as wearing.
After further investigation a warrant for Litzsey's arrest was obtained. The case was still under investigation Wednesday and detectives were working on getting a warrant for the second suspect.
Litzsey is being held at the Garland County Detention Center without bond and is set to appear Aug. 29 in Garland County District Court, although he will likely make an initial appearance before then.
Local on 08/17/2017