Shooting suspect sentenced to 11-year term for guns, drugs

Alphonzo Dewayne Ellis - Submitted photo
Alphonzo Dewayne Ellis - Submitted photo

One of three suspects awaiting trial for allegedly shooting a 16-year-old girl in 2018 on Housley Point Road was sentenced to 11 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges involving drugs and guns found in his car after he wrecked it the day after the shooting.

Alphonzo Dewayne Ellis, 22, of Hot Springs, who has remained in custody on $50,000 bond since his arrest Sept. 14, 2018, pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and to possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, with purpose to deliver, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, to run concurrently.

An additional felony charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and a misdemeanor count of fleeing the scene of a property damage accident were withdrawn. Ellis was also ordered to pay $565 in court costs.

Ellis, Latrell Trey Lamont Young, 19, and his younger brother, Isaiah Eugene Young, 17, are each charged with first-degree battery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, for the Sept. 13, 2018, shooting of a 16-year-old girl who was found crawling across Housley Point Road with multiple gunshot wounds.

Ellis and Latrell Young were charged on Jan. 17, 2020, and Isaiah Young was charged on June 9, 2020. Ellis is set to stand trial on the charge on Oct. 14 while Latrell Young is set for trial on Oct. 20. Isaiah Young is set for a hearing on Aug. 31 on the admissibility of any statements he made to Garland County sheriff's investigators following his arrest on the charge.

According to the probable cause affidavits and previous reports regarding the Housley Point incident, the sheriff's department had received a call shortly after noon of a young female lying in the roadway with gunshot wounds.

A witness stated he found the victim crawling in the road and began first aid and "attempted to calm (her) until first responders arrived." She was airlifted to Arkansas Children's Hospital for treatment. Medical records later indicated she had suffered a graze wound to her left shoulder and bullet wounds to her right shoulder, her right neck area and her back.

Shortly after the shooting, sheriff's investigators put out a "Be on the Lookout" alert for a maroon 2002 Honda CRV, which was reportedly the victim's car.

That same day, shortly before 9 p.m., Hot Springs police located the Honda abandoned in the 200 block of Spargo Street with no one around it and notified sheriff's investigators who retrieved it and processed it for evidence.

The next day, Sept. 14, around 3:30 p.m., police responded to a hit-and-run wreck at the intersection of Shady Grove Road and Fontana Street involving a blue Ford Expedition where the driver had fled the scene toward Ridgeview Street.

Officers reportedly found 11.5 ounces, or more than half a pound, of marijuana, a .45-caliber handgun and 9-mm pistol, multiple rounds of ammunition, several cellphones and tablets, two smoking pipes and three sets of digital scales.

About 30 minutes after the wreck was found, police located the driver, identified as Ellis, in the area of Ridgeview and took him into custody. He had the shooting victim's driver's license in his possession and a pink jacket with dried blood on the elbows was found near where he was captured.

After being read his rights, Ellis admitted to driving the Expedition and that the firearms and marijuana found belonged to him. He claimed to have stolen the guns although a computer check did not show either as being reported stolen. He also reportedly admitted the pink jacket belonged to him.

The 9-mm found in the car was sent to the state crime lab for comparison to the expended shell casings found at the Housley Point scene, the affidavit states. On Oct. 5, 2018, the lab reported the casings were a positive match to the 9-mm.

On Sept. 17, 2018, the victim was interviewed about the incident and stated she had been driving on Whittington Avenue when she was stopped by a black SUV and four males got out and approached her car. One male, she later identified as Ellis, ordered her to get out of the driver's seat and into the back seat and then he drove the car.

She said Latrell Young was in the front passenger seat and Isaiah Young and another juvenile were in the back seat with her. After driving around Hot Springs for an unknown amount of time, they ended up in an area she was unfamiliar with and she was ordered out of the car.

She started walking, she said, and could hear a car approaching her from behind and then felt pressure hit her and "her ears started ringing" and she fell to the ground where she was eventually helped by a passerby.

She reportedly picked Ellis and both Young brothers out a photo lineup and warrants were later issued for all three.

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