The man shot to death at a Little Rock pizza restaurant last year was killed by a man he believed had murdered his sister, prosecutors said Thursday while showing Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims a video of the fatal shooting.
Security camera footage from the Little Caesar's shows 26-year-old Domeque Latice Jones, a worker at the South University Avenue take-out eatery, behind the counter and emptying the magazine of his semi-automatic pistol into 33-year-old Marcus Dominique Fleming during the Aug. 29 incident.
The Little Rock father of five was unarmed. He was there with his girlfriend, Krystal Rena White, 34, to pick up food for their children. Neither man immediately recognized the other at first.
Fleming's death was not shown on the video. He managed to crawl through the gunfire and into the store parking lot, where he succumbed to 15 gunshot wounds. Police collected 14 shell casings from the scene, across the street from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus.
Jones, who had worked at the restaurant for about a year, ran out the back door, taking the gun with him. Charged with first-degree murder, he was arrested the next day while meeting with his lawyer in preparation for surrendering to police.
Jones, a Phillips County native with no prior felonies, has been jailed since, and there is no dispute that Jones shot Fleming, his lawyer said.
But what's more important than what the recording shows is what the video cannot show, attorney John Landis told the judge. The camera can't show the months of violent threats that Jones had to endure from Fleming -- some delivered in person, some in the form of Facebook messages, Landis said.
Importantly, the soundless recording, captured by an overhead camera, cannot show what Jones' saw, which was the way Fleming was moving his hands, like he was reaching for a weapon at his waist, Landis told the judge.
The video shows Fleming was unarmed, but Jones couldn't see that Fleming was empty-handed because the men were separated by a counter that was at least four feet tall, the attorney said. Fearful of what Fleming was going to do, Jones shot first in self-defense when Fleming mimicked reaching for a weapon, Landis told the judge.
"He [Fleming] sure pretended to [be armed] and represented ... that he had a gun," Landis said. "It [the video] actually looks like he's going for a gun. What is Jones supposed to do? Wait for that barrel in his face?"
Jones kept shooting because he believed he was in danger as long as Fleming kept moving, Landis said.
He also pointed to the circumstances of the men's final encounter as proof that Fleming was the aggressor. Fleming and his girlfriend had left the store with their three pizzas and breadsticks, only for Fleming to return after about 35 seconds to confront Jones.
"I don't know what he came back in for but to cause trouble," Landis said.
Police said Fleming went back to confront Jones, apparently angry over the way Jones had handled a cup of the dipping sauce the couple had ordered. It had fallen on the floor.
The recording shows Fleming scowling and leaning his forearms on the counter with his hands clasped as he talks to Jones, who takes a couple of steps back. His face animated, Fleming raps the counter a couple of times with his right fist, and then he steps back while pointing with his left hand at Jones.
Fleming's right hand is down, like he's rubbing the front of his pants, as he backs away. But he quickly steps back to the counter, brushing his hands across it as Jones subtly pulls his gun from his right side and holds the weapon pointed down.
Fleming is standing at the counter, but his right hand looks like he's making downward pointing motion as Jones turns slightly away from him, then lifts the gun chest high with his right hand, stretches out his arm and fires point-blank at Fleming.
Fleming goes down on his right side, his shoulders curling together as he falls to the floor. On the ground, he starts pushing himself away from Jones using his legs as the bullets break the glass in the window and door behind him.
Jones leans over the counter, arm still fully extended, as he continues to pull the trigger, steadying himself with his left hand on some cooking equipment by the counter as he keeps shooting as Fleming, laying on his side, pushes himself out of the door, about 90 seconds after he had walked back into the restaurant.
Things were bad between the men because Fleming believed Jones had something to do with killing Fleming's sister, Jones' brother, 29-year-old Elzy Everett Jones, told the judge.
Elzy Jones said authorities had cleared his brother of involvement in the shooting death of April Harris, but Fleming continued to believe that Domeque Jones had something to do with the January 2018 killing, which remains unsolved.
The 30-year-old mother of four was killed in front of her children by a masked gunman who ambushed her just after she left her home at the Fairfax Crossing apartments, 5900 McCain Park Place, in North Little Rock. Harris was shot in the head. She was carrying her 5-year-old daughter, who was shot in the arm by the killer.
Elzy Jones testified that Fleming's anger at his brother had intensified in the months leading up to the Little Caesar's shooting because of a renewed push by Pulaski County sheriff's investigators to find Harris' killer.
Elzy Jones said his brother's close friend and roommate had been dating Harris when she was killed, but that man also had been ruled out as a suspect.
Thursday's hearing, conducted by Internet broadcast, was for the judge to consider reducing Domeque Jones' $500,000 bail. The defendant asked for $100,000 with electronic monitoring but the judge declined to reduce it, siding with deputy prosecutor Scott Duncan who opposed lowering bail.
Duncan argued that Jones knew what he had done was wrong, pointing out that Jones told detectives after his arrest that he probably overreacted.
The prosecutor also told the judge that Jones would be a flight risk, saying he has jail-house phone recordings of the defendant telling his girlfriend in Colorado that he plans to move there as soon as he can get out of jail.
Duncan said Jones can be heard on another recorded call saying he could have walked away from the situation.
Metro on 06/05/2020