Shooting fatal to 2 women in Little Rock home; boy, 2, injured

A Little Rock police crime scene investigator enters a house to collect evidence Saturday after an early morning double homicide on South Ringo Street. More photos at www.arkansasonline.com/126homicide/.

A Little Rock police crime scene investigator enters a house to collect evidence Saturday after an early morning double homicide on South Ringo Street. More photos at www.arkansasonline.com/126homicide/.


Two women were killed and a 2-year-old boy was seriously injured early Saturday in a shooting at their Little Rock home in what detectives have described as a domestic-related double homicide, police said.

Officers were dispatched to a home at 3112 S. Ringo St. shortly before 1:40 a.m. on an "unknown trouble" call, said Little Rock police officer Eric Barnes, an agency spokesman.

Police found three people shot inside the home. Two women were dead and a toddler was shot in the upper body, he said. A fourth person, a teenage girl, also was in the house but was uninjured, according to police.

The boy was transported to Arkansas Children's Hospital, where he was treated and later released, police said Saturday evening.

Police said they had identified a suspect, but didn't immediately release the person's name. The names of the victims also had not been released as of Saturday afternoon.

[INTERACTIVE MAP: Search all killings in Little Rock, North Little Rock this year at arkansasonline.com/2020homicides]

"It's just sad, man," said Brandon Butler, 36, who had been a tenant in the home until November 2018. "I feel for them. We all want a safe environment to raise our kids. No child should have to deal with that. No family, no mom, no dad should have to deal with that."

Butler said he didn't know much about the people who moved into the house after him, only that a young child lived there with his mother.

Detectives believe the slayings were the result of a domestic disturbance and were an isolated incident, according to police. Barnes said he wasn't sure if the teenage girl in the house called 911 or if she notified someone else and that person called authorities.

Wanda Tappin, who lives on South Ringo, a short distance north from where the shootings occurred, said she was awakened around 3 a.m. Saturday by police. She gave them some video captured by her video doorbell system, but it showed nothing, she said.

[Video not loading above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/126lrpd]

"There's so much of this going on," Tappin said. "Everywhere you go. ... There are people who think, 'if I'm mad at you, I can kill you.' I don't understand it."

Tappin, 72, said she is close with the neighbors on her block, who are mostly at or near retirement age. She doesn't know too many of the homeowners who live one block south, where the victims were shot.

"My neighbors and I are very cautious," she said. "We've seen some things, but we haven't seen nothing like this."

Pierre Mead lives down the road from the shootings and drove by the intersection for a closer look later Saturday morning.

[Gallery not loading above? Click here for more photos » arkansasonline.com/126homicide]

He heard some commotion and saw the fleet of emergency vehicles with flashing lights shining into the sky hours earlier. He said he is getting increasingly perplexed at the cycle of violence across the city.

"People need to pay attention," Mead said. "There's just a lot of violence going on in Little Rock. It keeps happening, and it looks like it's going to keep happening."

Shortly before noon, police officers started removing the yellow tape around the house. Crime-scene technicians remained at the scene throughout the day.

Saturday's killings were the fourth and fifth homicides of the year in Little Rock, Barnes said.

photo

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Little Rock police officers investigate a double homicide Saturday on the 3100 block of South Ringo Street. A 2-year-old boy who was also shot was treated and released from a hospital by Saturday evening. More photos at www.arkansasonline.com/126homicide/.


Metro on 01/26/2020

Upcoming Events