Bail was set at $500,000 Wednesday for the suspect in Tuesday's shooting of a 35-year-old father of four in Fort Smith.
Jeremy Delaxander Palmer, 25, was arrested around 9 a.m. Tuesday in the fatal shooting of Jason Thomas about eight hours earlier.
On Wednesday, Palmer's bail was set at $500,000 cash-only, and he was appointed a public defender. His plea or trial request was set for May 24. Palmer remained in the Sebastian County jail Wednesday evening, according to an online inmate roster.
At 12:43 a.m. Tuesday, police encountered a crowd of people in the parking lot of the West Apartments in northern Fort Smith. According to a police report, people were pointing toward a silver Cadillac, and "there were several people around this vehicle and lots of people shouting and crying in disbelief."
An officer found Thomas in the driver side of the vehicle "slumped over against the back of the chair with his head slightly down," according to the report. On closer inspection, it was clear that a bullet had entered through his left cheekbone and that he was dead, it said.
At the time of the shooting, Thomas and his wife, Amanda -- residents of the West Apartments -- were experiencing car trouble and a neighbor approached them and offered assistance, according to reports.
Palmer, who is not a resident of the apartment complex, was standing nearby when the couple declined the neighbor's offer to help, according to police. Palmer then encountered the neighbor and asked him if the couple had acted rudely. The neighbor responded that they had not, according to police.
Police said Palmer then walked over to the vehicle, opened the driver's side door and fired one round that struck Thomas in the face.
"Amanda was frantic and was saying they just shot him and [the neighbor] advised that the suspect approached him while he was inside his vehicle," the police report said. "The suspect then went to the victim's vehicle and just shot him," the report said.
Witnesses told police that three young black men between the ages of 18 and 20, wearing dark clothing, ran from the scene of the shooting toward Kay Rogers Park.
Police later arrested Palmer several blocks south of the apartment complex. He was wearing muddied and ripped clothing, and was later identified in a police lineup of six people, according to reports.
Palmer did not give any statement at the time of his arrest, police said.
A Fort Smith Police Department spokesman said Tuesday that police had found "zero [previous] connection between the victim and the suspect."
"By witness statements, [Palmer] was kind of acting irrational, was acting odd," Fort Smith police spokesman Sgt. Daniel Grubbs said.
Palmer is facing charges of first-degree murder, terroristic act and felon in possession of a firearm, according to police.
Metro on 03/02/2017