A Hot Springs teenager who was shot in the parking lot of a local restaurant late Wednesday died from his injuries Thursday morning at a local hospital, according to the Hot Springs Police Department.
Police officers responded to a report of a shooting victim at National Park Medical Center at 10:48 p.m. Wednesday and learned that Marlon Dupree Sanders, 18, of Hot Springs, had been brought to the hospital by a private vehicle, police said in a news release.
Sanders was initially listed in "very critical" condition but died from his injuries at around 11 a.m. Thursday, the release said. His death is now being investigated as a homicide, but no suspects have been identified.
A fight involving a large group of people reportedly broke out in a waiting room area at NPMC sometime after 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Hot Springs police Cpl. Kirk Zaner confirmed that the incident appeared to be in connection with the shooting victim.
Zaner said the shooting occurred in the parking lot of the McDonald's restaurant at the corner of Malvern and East Grand, but the department did not release any details about the events leading up to the incident.
"This shooting remains under investigation and no further information is known at this time," the release said.
Sanders' death is Hot Springs' first reported homicide of 2018, and the first in the city since Nicholas Matthew Lewondowski, 34, was charged with three counts of capital murder for the deaths of Paul D. Power, 40, Dory Ann Power, 46, and Brenda Sue Lawson, 60, all of Hot Springs, whose bodies were found Dec. 5, 2017, inside a residence at 208 Nevada St.
Anyone with information about the Sanders investigation is asked to call the Hot Springs Police Department at 501-321-6789.
Local on 03/09/2018