A man was held at gunpoint in a southwest Little Rock neighborhood Tuesday night, police reported.
Officers responded shortly after 8 p.m. to 5420 Baseline Road, where Lucio Gonzalez, speaking through a translator, told police that two men had run toward him as he left a store near his home. The men, described as black, tried to pull Gonzalez out of his vehicle at gunpoint, according to a police report.
Gonzalez, 41, does not speak English and didn't understand what the men were saying to him, the report states. The men soon ran north on Shelley Drive, empty-handed. One of them fired two shots into the air.
No injuries were reported.
The confrontation occurred in a Hispanic neighborhood south of Interstate 30 where police are investigating a series of similar holdups. The victims were accosted outside homes or businesses and robbed at gunpoint, according to reports.
Gonzalez is at least the 16th such victim this year.
Police have increased patrols in the neighborhood and sent Spanish-speaking officers to ask residents for help.
An investigation is ongoing.
Metro on 02/19/2015