2 teens cleared in deadly shootout inside Little Rock high-rise

Police talk with bystanders who are trying to find out more information about a shooting that left one person dead and another injured at the Midtown Park Apartments in Little Rock on April 26.
Police talk with bystanders who are trying to find out more information about a shooting that left one person dead and another injured at the Midtown Park Apartments in Little Rock on April 26.

Pulaski County prosecutors have cleared two teenagers involved in a deadly shootout inside the stairwell of a high-rise apartment building earlier this year, authorities said last week.

The incident started as a meet-up for a gun deal and ended with a shootout between teenagers, according to an investigative case file compiled by the Little Rock Police Department and released last week. Nigel Jackson, 17, was killed and two others were wounded in the April 26 incident at the Midtown Park Apartments, located at 6115 W. Markham St.

Ronterio Claybrooks, then 17, had multiple gunshot wounds while 18-year-old Siddik Haidara had a minor gunshot wound to his foot, according to the file.

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Photos by Gavin Lesnick and Ryan Tarinelli

Little Rock police initially arrested Claybrooks for manslaughter, first-degree battery and aggravated robbery, but John Johnson, chief deputy prosecutor, said the teenager will not be charged in the case. He also said Haidara will not face charges in the incident.

Although both have been cleared in the shooting and the homicide case is closed, Johnson said the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney's office will consider any further information about the incident if it comes forward.

Efforts to reach Haidara and Claybrooks were unsuccessful.

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Jackson's death in April marked the 19th homicide of the year in Little Rock. As of Sunday afternoon, the city has seen 45 homicides, a sharp increase compared with the 24 homicides during the same period last year. At 17 years old, Jackson was one of the youngest homicide victims the city has seen this year.

Officers responded to the high-rise apartment building at 5:18 p.m. April 26, where they found Jackson fatally shot in a stairwell, according to the case file. Claybrooks, who had also been shot, fled the scene and was taken to CHI St. Vincent Infirmary, where he told police he had been hit while fleeing the stairwell.

At the apartment building, detectives found Haidara in the office after a patrol officer identified him as being involved in the incident, the case file said.

That night, in a taped statement with detectives, Haidara said he had gotten off work at Chick-fil-A and went to his apartment at 6115 W. Markham St. before the shooting occurred. He initially told police the shooting happened after two people followed him into the stairwell.

Later that night, in a separate interview with detectives, Haidara said he had not been completely truthful. Instead, he told police that he and a person on Instagram had agreed to meet in the stairwell for a gun deal.

Haidara said they messaged each other on Instagram about "purchasing or possibly trading handguns," according to the case report. Haidara told police he already had a gun, and did not want to trade it, according to the case file. Instead, he wanted to purchase a pink handgun.

At the meeting, two people -- later identified as Jackson and Claybrooks -- showed up, he told police. One pulled out the pink gun, but would not let Haidara hold the weapon, he told police.

Haidara told the person that he wanted to buy the pink handgun and did not want to trade, according to the case file. After that, he told authorities that Claybrooks and Jackson began to act strangely.

According to the case file, Haidara said both Claybrooks and Jackson pointed firearms at him, and he reached for his own handgun.

The two began firing at him, Haidara said, and he "began firing shots while fleeing the stairwell," according to the report. Haidara went back to his apartment and stashed the gun in a closet, he told authorities. According to the report, Haidara said he thought that Jackson and Claybrooks were going to rob him.

After being released from the hospital on April 28, Claybrooks agreed to give a taped statement to detectives. During the first interview, Claybrooks told police that the meeting was about selling a video game.

Later on April 28, detectives again interviewed Claybrooks, and he admitted to not telling the truth during the first interview, according to the case report. Claybrooks then told detectives that the meeting was related to trading "a couple of guns with Mr. Haidara," according to the case report.

Claybrooks told detectives that Jackson tried to rob Haidara at the meeting, according to the report. Shots were fired, and Claybrooks said he began shooting at Haidara while fleeing the stairwell, according to the case file.

"He didn't tell me honestly, honestly he didn't tell me that he was gonna rob him either way," according to a transcript of the interview. "He was telling me like he was just gonna trade it. So I ain't know all this was going down."

Metro on 09/11/2017

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