Little Rock officials found few answers five days after gunfire in a downtown nightclub wounded more than two dozen people, with the police chief telling elected leaders he is withholding details to avoid harming the chances for a conviction.
Chief Kenton Buckner stood for nearly 90 minutes before the Board of Directors on Wednesday during its first meeting since the shooting early Saturday at Power Ultra Lounge.
Buckner answered broad questions about a recent uptick in violence and spoke generally about the investigation, but he offered few new details on the shooting.
"We want a conviction," Buckner said. "Unless we methodically go about doing that, we will harm ourselves in the long picture."
Victims of Little Rock mass shooting
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Gunfire broke out early Saturday during a concert by Memphis rapper Ricky Hampton, who performs under the name Finese 2Tymes. Bullets injured 25 people, and three others were hurt in the rush to leave the second floor of the Sixth Street nightclub.
Five people remained in the hospital Wednesday, and two were considered to be in critical condition, Buckner said.
Federal authorities on Sunday arrested the 25-year-old Hampton on Arkansas warrants over an aggravated-assault complaint from a shooting at Club Envy in Forrest City on June 25.
A clubgoer accused Hampton of shooting her through her car window after the performance there, according to an affidavit. Federal authorities on Monday charged Hampton with possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
Little Rock officers have interviewed Hampton, who is considered a "person of interest" in the Little Rock shooting, Buckner said.
Buckner, in an interview after the city board meeting, said he could not say how many people are believed to have fired weapons in the Power Ultra Lounge shooting. Witnesses have told reporters at least two people fired shots.
"You don't want to speak on an active, ongoing case when you still have people who are responsible for that incident who are outstanding," Buckner said.
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Photos by Brandon Riddle
Photos by Brandon Riddle
Police continue to interview witnesses and victims, Buckner said. They also are working to obtain or enhance video footage from about 10 cellphones that were in the club and to prioritize thousands of pieces of evidence that have been sent to the state Crime Laboratory for testing.
"In this case, we have 25 victims, but we can be talking to someone who's a victim today that we later identify as a shooter tomorrow," Buckner said.
Police have said the gunfire followed a dispute in the nightclub and have publicly linked it to a long-running feud between two "rival organizations" blamed for frequently resorting to gun violence.
Early data show there have been nearly 1,400 cases of violent crime -- homicide, robbery, rape and aggravated assault -- in Little Rock since Jan. 1, a 24 percent increase over 2016.
Four black Little Rock residents criticized city officials at Wednesday's Board of Directors meeting, with some calling for board members and city officials to step down. Two focused on what they said is a crime-ridden stretch of 12th Street, including the site of a drive-by shooting last month that injured a 7-year-old.
"I see the blatant racism that is going on in this city," said the Rev. Benny Johnson, who leads an anti-crime group [CLICK FOR VIDEO]. "Anything ... that affects the white people's dollar, this [majority] white board is quick to jump on it."
Officials have worked on broader efforts to focus a shorthanded department on violent crime for months, Buckner said.
Buckner told city directors he would seek approval to have minor complaints handled over the phone, saving time for officers to respond to a case involving a stolen bicycle, for instance, and for non-police officers to respond to thousands of traffic accidents that occur each year on city streets.
"We will need modification in types of things police respond to," Buckner said.
Since February, the department's Violent Crime Apprehension Team -- which considers 12th Street its "ground zero" -- has arrested 452 people and levied more than 800 felony charges, Buckner said.
City Director Lance Hines asked Buckner whether Arkansas State Police could handle patrols in lower-crime areas, freeing up officers for other parts of the city.
Buckner, who said he is generally open to the idea of partnering with the state in efforts to curb violence, said he would rather not.
"I would probably shy away from or respectfully push back against state police [having] direct contact and patrolling our streets because I think there are some variables or differences in rural communities versus urban communities that we would probably feel most comfortable that Little Rock police are having day-to-day contact," Buckner said.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson has scheduled a 2:30 p.m. news conference for today to discuss new partnerships with central Arkansas law enforcement agencies.
Metro on 07/06/2017