HOT SPRINGS -- Police Chief Jason Stachey said Monday that investigators are trying to determine what preceded an exchange of gunfire between three men Saturday night near the intersection of Grand and Central avenues that left four men injured, including a bystander.
One of the four injured men was initially reported as a shooting victim, but it was later determined that he was struck by flying glass, police said. The other three victims, including one of the gunmen, were injured by gunfire but their wounds were not life-threatening, even though police said some 36 shots were fired from three different weapons.
No arrests had been made as of Monday. Stachey said detectives were trying to identify all the individuals involved and what role each played in the shooting.
"Specifically, we're trying to determine if they had known one another -- did they have some kind of relationship?" Stachey said. "Was there an incident that might have started this prior to the shooting incident?"
The Police Department said in a news release that officers who responded to a shooting call at the Exxon station at 1200 Central Ave. late Saturday found Timothy Martin, 37, of Hot Springs, in the lobby of the Travel Lodge Motel, 1204 Central Ave., with a gunshot wound in his leg. Martin, who ran to the Travel Lodge after being shot at the Exxon station, was transported to a hospital by LifeNet.
An investigation determined that Martin and a passenger in his vehicle, Derrick Wyatt, 38, of Hot Springs, were approached by an unknown person who had a gun in his hand, after they arrived at the Exxon, police said.
Martin drew a handgun and exchanged gunfire with the man, and a second person in the parking lot also shot at Martin, police said.
Police reported earlier that Wyatt was struck in the hip/buttocks area, but Monday's release said another man previously reported as being shot in the leg, Jamerison Bedford, 23, of Hot Springs, was not struck by gunfire.
Bedford was inside of Martin's vehicle during the shooting and was struck in the eye by flying glass, police said.
Another man, James Edward Hill, 29, of Hot Springs, who was in the parking lot of the Exxon during the exchange of gunfire, was shot in the leg. Hill left before officers arrived and drove himself to a hospital.
Hot Springs Cpl. Kirk Zaner said Monday that Hill was apparently a bystander.
A fourth occupant of Martin's vehicle, Kevon Benson, 21, of Hot Springs, was not injured, police said.
No arrests have been made.
State Desk on 03/14/2017