FAYETTEVILLE — A 22-year-old man was injured after multiple gunshots were fired at the Walton Arts Center parking lot as bars closed early Sunday with several people around, according to police.
Montavius Knighten, 24, of Springdale and Edwin Swan, 28, of Fayetteville were arrested in connection with the shooting. Knighten was arrested in connection with first-degree battery and committing a terroristic act. Swan was arrested in connection with aggravated assault and possession of a controlled substance. Both were being held Sunday at the Washington County Detention Center.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting about 2:14 a.m. Sunday at the parking lot west of the Walton Arts Center, according to a police report. They found a 22-year-old man inside a car with a gunshot wound to the chest. The wound was superficial, and the man received hospital treatment and was released, the report says. Police did not provide the man’s name Sunday afternoon.
Witnesses identified Knighten and Swan as suspects in the shooting. Officers found both near the scene with guns in their possession and arrested them, according to the report.
Nearby bars had just closed at 2 a.m. and there were multiple people in and around the parking lot at the time of the shooting, the report says. No other injuries were reported.
The man who was shot told police he had been with friends inside Z330, at 330 W. Dickson St., earlier in the night and there had been a fight between one of his friends and another man, according to the report. The man and his friends left the bar and walked back to his car in the Walton Arts Center lot, the report says.
Two men approached the group while they stood near the car, and one man matching Swan’s description carried a gun in plain sight, according to the report.
“The victim said he believed, based on the demeanor of the male who approached him and the visible firearm, the male had the intent to shoot him,” the report says.
The 22-year-old man pulled out a gun of his own, pointed it at the men and pulled the trigger, but the gun malfunctioned and did not fire, according to the report. At least one of the men started firing at the 22-year-old man and his friends, and the 22-year-old man got inside his car to hide, the report says. He told police he was shot while inside the car, trying to leave the parking lot. He reported seeing the man his friend had gotten into a fight with earlier in the evening standing behind one of the men who fired the shots, making him think the shooting was related to the earlier incident.
The 22-year-old man said he thought about 15 shots were fired.
Knighten told police he shot the man, according to the report. He said he followed Swan as they ran toward the 22-year-old man, but didn’t know where they were going. Knighten said he saw the 22-year-old man point a gun at them, so he pulled out his gun and shot at him, the report says.
Swan said he had been running through the Walton Arts Center lot with a group toward the 22-year-old man, but that he veered away from the group and went toward his own car where he thought his girlfriend was, according to the report. He said he pulled a gun out of his waistband as he ran, kept it in his hands a few steps, then put the gun in his pants pocket. Swan said he got down on the ground once shots were fired, and that he had not been involved in the earlier fight at the bar, the report says.
The 17-round magazine in the gun Knighten was found with was empty, according to the report. The magazine in the gun Swan was found with was full, supporting his statement that he had not fired his gun, the report says.
Swan was arrested in connection with aggravated assault for having approached the 22-year-old man with a gun displayed in a manner that caused the man to believe he was about to be shot, according to the report. Jail deputies found half an Oxycodone pill on Swan when he was booked at the Washington County Detention Center, and he was additionally arrested for possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, the report says.