The first of two suspects sought in connection with a shooting incident in Hot Springs on Halloween night 2017 in which passing vehicles were struck by gunfire was arrested on felony warrants in Little Rock early Friday.
Juneau Cortina Willis, 32, a felon who lists a Lafayette Street address, was taken into custody at the Pulaski County Detention Center around 1 a.m. and charged with two counts of committing a terroristic act and one count of possession of a firearm by certain persons, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and felony failure to appear.
He was being held on $56,000 bond and is set to appear Feb. 26 in Garland County District Court.
His alleged accomplice, Michael Correa, 31, who is also a convicted felon, is still being sought on the same charges.
On Oct. 31, 2017, around 6:30 p.m., a local woman, 24, told Hot Springs police she was stopped in the outside lane of West Grand Avenue, headed west, when she heard what sounded like a gunshot hit her car, police told The Sentinel-Record at the time.
She looked to her left to the parking lot of the Valero, 1201 Central, where she reportedly saw a black male firing a gun a second time toward the gas station. She said there was a second person she couldn't describe standing on the south side of the Valero "which appeared to be the direction the black male was shooting," police said.
As she drove away, she saw the suspect with the gun run to a gold vehicle and heard a third gunshot as he drove away headed east on Grand. She later arrived home and discovered a bullet hole in the driver's side door of her vehicle.
According to the probable cause affidavit for Willis, police responded to the Valero and to Hardee's nearby at 249 W. Grand regarding a related wreck. Witnesses said the occupants of a gold Jaguar XT3 and the occupants of a newer model Chevrolet pickup were on the lot of the Valero earlier and began shooting at each other and then drove to Hardee's.
When the Jaguar attempted to turn onto Oak Street beside Hardee's, the driver lost control and struck a parked Chevrolet Suburban and then the driver and passenger of the Jaguar fled the scene on foot.
Detective Jarrett Cantrell reviewed security footage from both Valero and Hardee's and recognized the driver of the Jaguar as Willis. In the video of the incident, the Chevrolet pickup drives slowly past Willis near the gas pumps at the Valero and Willis is shown "ducking behind his vehicle with a handgun" and then firing it. Willis then gets in the car and flees the area. After the wreck at Hardee's, both Willis and his passenger, later identified as Correa, get out of the car and flee in two different directions.
Officers located a .380 handgun in the driver's seat of the Jaguar.
The affidavit states it was discovered two passing vehicles were struck by bullets while stopped at the traffic light at Grand and Central. One vehicle was hit in the driver's door and the other sustained damage on the driver's side, above the rear window.
Willis was convicted of felony fleeing in Garland County in 2014. Correa, who listed a San Francisco address at the time, was reportedly convicted of a felony July 9, 2007, in California.
Local on 02/16/2019