Felon allegedly caught with gun after officers respond to report of fight

A convicted felon was arrested Thursday night after Hot Springs police responding to a reported fight outside a local department store allegedly found he was in possession of a gun.

Seth David Stewart, 23, who lists a Bayside Road address, was taken into custody around 8 p.m. and charged with possession of a firearm by a certain person, a felony punishable by up to six years in prison.

He was being held on $2,500 bond and appeared Friday in Garland County District Court.

According to the probable cause affidavit, officers were dispatched to the Dollar Store, 640 Malvern Ave., in reference to a fight with a gun involved. The armed suspect was described as a white male wearing a tank top shirt who was last seen running near the woods.

Lt. Larry Patrick said store employees pointed him in the direction of the fence line near the property where he saw three white males standing, including one matching the description given, later identified as Stewart.

Patrick noted Stewart had blood on his hands and face. Stewart told him he got into a fight with another man, 24, outside the store, but claimed the other man had attacked him "for no reason."

Patrick spoke to several witnesses who stated Stewart was the one who attacked the other man and during the fight a handgun that was in Stewart's waistband fell out onto the sidewalk. One of Stewart's friends, 24, picked the gun up and ran toward the fence line where he handed it off to a third man, 22, in the group.

While Patrick was speaking to Stewart and the others, the third man walked up to him and stated he had the gun they were looking for and then gave Patrick a .380 automatic pistol.

After being read his rights, Stewart reportedly admitted the pistol fell out of his waistband during the fight and he couldn't pick it up because he was holding the man he was fighting, so his friend picked it up. Stewart was previously convicted in Garland County in 2013 of aggravated residential burglary and reportedly told Patrick he knew he was not allowed to be in possession of a gun.