One of four known suspects sought in connection with a March home invasion in which two juveniles were threatened at gunpoint was charged Wednesday with a felony count in the incident.
Demestrius Lamar Holmes, who turned 18 on May 4, was already in custody in the Garland County Juvenile Detention Center on other charges when he was served Wednesday with a warrant for aggravated residential burglary, punishable by up to life in prison, and later transferred to the adult detention center.
Holmes, who is set to be arraigned on the charge June 6 in Garland County Circuit Court, where the charge was filed directly, was released on $25,000 bond shortly after his transfer to GCDC.
Hot Springs police have identified three other male suspects in connection with the incident, including two arrested earlier this month in connection with other incidents and a third who was still reportedly at large.
According to the affidavit, on March 22, shortly before 4:30 a.m., a juvenile victim alleges four males forced their way into his residence on Emory Street. Once inside, one suspect pointed a handgun at him and his 10-year-old sister and yelled, "Where's the money at?"
Then a second male, later identified as Holmes, pointed a handgun at the victim and said, "Talk s - - - now b - - - - !" The victim said he told him, "Please, man, not in front of my little sister." He said the suspects took their focus off him long enough for him to grab his little sister and run out the door to a neighbor's house.
The victim's mother was able to provide police with security video showing four males approaching the residence. The victim noted he and Holmes had prior conflict with each other stemming from Holmes having heard the victim was talking negatively about him to a female.
On April 8, former police Detective Paul Allen assisted patrol on a traffic stop in which two adults and three juvenile suspects were arrested on unrelated charges. On April 14, Allen interviewed one of the juveniles and asked about three recent violent incidents.
The juvenile said he had seen the security footage from the Emory incident on Facebook and one of the suspects involved had told him about it.
He said the suspect told him he wanted to do "a mission" and he and another suspect had picked up Holmes and the fourth suspect. He said they knocked on the door like 10 times to see if anyone was home. When they decided the residence was empty, they knocked down the security camera, pulled out their guns, kicked the door in and went inside.
After making entry, they discovered there were people inside. The description he gave of the male they found inside matched that of the juvenile victim on Emory and he noted the other person was "a little girl."
The suspect said he didn't point his gun at the girl, but he did point it at the male juvenile. The witness said the suspect referred to the incident as a "blank mission" because they panicked when they saw the girl and didn't take anything. They then ran to a nearby parking lot, located at Emory and 7th streets, and fled the area in their vehicle.
Allen obtained still shots from the video and showed them to the witness who identified three of the suspects.
A warrant for Holmes arrest on the charge was issued May 1 while he was still 17 years old.
Local on 05/19/2017