Prosecutor: Paring 211-witnesses list in mass shooting at Little Rock club

Kentrell Gwynn
Kentrell Gwynn

The evidence in the case of suspected nightclub gunman Kentrell Gwynn includes 211 witnesses, according to prosecutors, although they do not expect to call anywhere near that number to testify in the 25-year-old Memphis man's trial next year.

Gwynn, who has been jailed 100 days, made his first appearance in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Thursday. Judge Chris Piazza scheduled his trial for April 30.

Gwynn faces a maximum of 60 years in prison on 10 counts of aggravated assault. He's accused of brandishing a gun in a threatening manner during the July mass shooting at the now-defunct Power Ultra Lounge. About two dozen patrons were injured during an exchange of gunfire at the downtown Little Rock venue at West Sixth and Main streets.

Deputy prosecutor Robbie Jones told the judge that he'd be paring the witness list significantly before trial. Jones said the proceeding should take at least three days.

Victims of Little Rock mass shooting

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Public defender Tim Boozer said he expects prosecutors to call as many as 40 witnesses. Gwynn was assigned a public defender after reporting that he is indigent. His application states that he is supporting two children and a fiancee, and had been earning $250 per week working in security.

Gwynn was the bodyguard of the club's featured performer, Ricky Hampton, a Memphis rap musician who performs under the stage name Finese2Tymes.

Gwynn and Hampton are now under federal indictment on weapons charges connected to a shooting outside a Forrest City nightclub a week before the Power Ultra shooting. Hampton is not charged in the Little Rock shooting.

Gwynn is not accused of shooting anyone at the club. Little Rock police last week arrested the man who authorities believe initiated the gunfire and is responsible for some of the injuries.

Tyler Clay Jackson, 19, of Conway was charged with three counts of second-degree battery and nine counts of aggravated assault. Authorities have not disclosed the evidence that police have to charge Jackson and have not revealed whom he is accused of injuring.

Jackson, formerly of Wrightsville, has been in custody since his Aug. 29 arrest in Faulkner County on charges of fleeing, theft by receiving, aggravated assault and criminal mischief, charges that together carry a maximum sentence of 32 years in prison.

According to an arrest report, Jackson was arrested two weeks after he was seriously injured Aug. 5 during a high-speed police chase that ended with a highway patrol trooper ramming the stolen 2013 Subaru Forester that Jackson was driving to end the pursuit.

Citing Jackson's high speeds and dangerous maneuvering through Greenbrier, Cpl. Gregg Bray used a special technique to hit the rear of the sport utility vehicle, sending it into a skid on U.S. 67, just north of the city.

The car hit a curb and rolled off the road, flinging Jackson from the vehicle before it caught fire. Jackson was airlifted to a Little Rock hospital for medical treatment, according to Bray's report.

The pursuit began when the trooper clocked the Forester driving 97 mph in a 70 mph zone on westbound Interstate 40.

The SUV turned out to have been reported stolen in Little Rock, and the driver accelerated when Bray turned on his emergency lights to signal the car to stop, according to the report.

The driver began weaving in and out of traffic, even driving on the right shoulder of the highway at 100 mph to 115 mph to pass slower traffic, the report said. The fleeing car narrowly missed some of the slower vehicles, according to the report.

A check of Jackson's criminal history showed that he was wanted in Pulaski County juvenile court on an aggravated-robbery charge, the report said.

Court records show that when Jackson was 15 in May 2014, he was charged as an adult with robbing 46-year-old Terry Thompson of Redfield behind the Walgreens store at 15500 Chenal Parkway.

Thompson told police he was working behind the drugstore when a man came up behind him with a gun and demanded "all your s***."

When Thompson told the robber that he didn't have anything to give him, the robber got into a gray 2007 Toyota Camry with three other young men and drove off, the report said.

Jackson was arrested about six hours later after police saw him behind the wheel of the car, which turned out to have been stolen. Jackson ran from the car, but police chased him down. He told officers that he had used a BB gun, according to an arrest report.

Although he was initially charged as an adult, prosecutors agreed to transfer the case to juvenile court in August 2014, court filings show.

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Metro on 10/27/2017

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