Morning gunfire fatal to Little Rock man

Residents: Area is usually quiet

Neighbors described the apartment complex where a 32-year-old Little Rock man was fatally shot early Friday morning as normally a quiet and safe place to live.

Levon Sales Jr. was already dead when officers arrived at Oakridge Apartments about 1:45 a.m., according to a report from the Little Rock Police Department.

Sales was found lying in the apartment's driveway with gunshot wounds, the report said. The number and location of Sales' wounds were not released.

Department spokesman officer Eric Barnes said police don't have a suspect in the shooting. Sales' body was transported to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy, according to the officers' report.

[INTERACTIVE MAP: Search all killings in Little Rock, North Little Rock this year]

Oakridge Apartments is a small cluster of tan-and-white two-story buildings surrounded by trees in southwest Little Rock. Although the complex has its share of burglaries, residents said the neighborhood is typically quiet.

"It's normally pretty peaceful around here, but every once in a while something happens," said James Lawrey, who has lived in the complex for about two years.

Residents were still standing in the doorways of their buildings Friday afternoon talking to one another and recounting details of what they saw earlier that morning. Many of the families standing just a few dozen yards from where Sales' body was found had small children.

"I didn't hear anything, but I saw the lights and came outside," Lawrey said. "You could see the blood leaking, getting bigger, on the ground."

Lawrey said it appeared Sales was bleeding from his head.

He said he didn't know Sales personally but that he'd seen him often around the apartments. Officers listed Sales' address as being on Gallahad Drive, less than a half-mile from where his body was found, but Lawrey said the man was often seen around Oakridge Apartments.

"He was there for a while," Lawrey said. "The police came and then more police showed up and they put a black sheet on him, but his body was on the ground until like 5 [a.m.]."

Kaylen Franklin said a friend had called her while she was sitting in her vehicle outside her apartment when she heard gunshots.

Franklin said she couldn't remember the exact number of shots but that the gunfire was "constant" for several moments.

"I went inside and told [her roommate], 'Don't go outside, somebody's shooting,' " Franklin said.

Less than an hour later, Franklin said her roommate woke her up and told her about the dead man in their driveway. Franklin and several other neighbors said they stood outside as police took photos and investigated.

The last homicide at Oakridge Apartments was in April 2014 when 25-year-old Leonard Montgomery was shot and killed in the parking lot, according to previous reports. Tommie Leangelo Ice pleaded guilty in May 2015 to a manslaughter charge for the homicide, which reportedly stemmed from an argument between rival gangs.

"I was spooked," Franklin said. "I just couldn't sleep. We haven't had this kind of thing in years."

Metro on 10/13/2018

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