FAYETTEVILLE -- Two men from Marianna have been arrested in connection with a Sept. 10 fatal shooting at a home at 1862 W. Pleasant Woods Drive.
Christopher Johnson Jr., 19, of Marianna, was arrested Monday in Marianna in connection with second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence, according to information from the Fayetteville Police Department. Johnson was being held Thursday in the Washington County Detention Center on $1 million bond.
Paul Whitaker, 18, of Marianna, was arrested Monday in Marianna in connection with hindering apprehension or prosecution and as an accomplice to tampering with physical evidence, according to police. Whitaker was being held Thursday in the Washington County jail on $25,000 bond. Records at the jail and in circuit court show two Fayetteville addresses for Whitaker.
Officers were sent to 1862 W. Pleasant Woods Drive around 10:30 p.m. Sept. 10 on a report of a shooting, according to information from Fayetteville police. They found a 16-year-old male in the home who had been shot.
The name of the juvenile who was killed isn't being released, according to Sgt. Anthony Murphy.
The incident was determined to be a homicide, police said. Police obtained arrest warrants for Johnson and Whitaker after several weeks of investigation.
According to the affidavit for an arrest warrant for Jonson, people at the residence gave conflicting accounts to police when officers first arrived on the scene, with one man identified as "the suspect" found with blood on his shirt, hands and arms. The suspect told officers he saw another man known only as "KJ" run out of the apartment after the shooting.
After speaking with officers the man walked away and began talking to other people nearby. When officers sought to speak to him again, he had left the area.
Surveillance video obtained by police showed one man, identified in the affidavit as "the witness," left the apartment. The witness ran to a neighbor's house, knocked on the door and then ran back to the apartment. No one else came out of the apartment, police said.
A few days later, police said, the witness gave a second statement and told investigators there were only two men other than himself and the victim in the apartment. The witness said he was upstairs when he heard the victim say "Stop pointing that gun at me." The witness said he heard a shot, ran downstairs and saw the suspect standing in front of the victim and the second man standing across the room. A semiautomatic handgun was on the couch next to the suspect.
The witness told officers in his second statement he never heard of anyone named "KJ." In text messages to the victim's mother the witness stated the suspect was playing with a gun and shot the victim in the chest, according to the affidavit.
The two men were arrested with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service Western Arkansas Fugitive Task Force and Eastern Arkansas Fugitive Task Force and the Marianna Police Department.
Police said the investigation is continuing.