By Ray King
A Pine Bluff teenager will be charged as an adult in the shooting death of another teenager and injuries to a second on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Pine Bluff District Judge John Kearney ruled prosecutors have probable cause to charge Deon Foots, 17, with capital murder, first-degree battery and with committing a terroristic act.
The body of the victim, 16, whose name has not been released, was found at Jack Robey Junior High School at about 9:03 p.m. when police were dispatched to the school in response to an unresponsive person. The victim (who is identified in a probable cause affidavit as Victim 2) was found face down in the passenger seat of a vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene of what police said appeared to be “gunshot wounds to the right side of his upper torso.”
Almost 12 hours earlier, at about 10:03 a.m., officers were sent to Village Green Apartments at 4321 S. Olive St., in response to a reported shooting. Upon arrival, they located a juvenile victim who had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to both legs. The name of that victim (who is identified in the affidavit as Victim 1) has not been released.
During the court hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Beth Carson said Detective Chris Wieland interviewed the juvenile (victim 1) at Jefferson Hospital and the juvenile said he did not know who “jumped him and who shot him.” He also said he did not know where the other victim drove off to.
Wieland reported that he located a witness who said he was asleep when he was awakened by gunshots. The witness said he looked out a window and saw Victim 1 in the woods fighting with another juvenile whose name is listed in the affidavit but has not been charged with a crime. The witness said he saw Foots shoot at victim 1 and saw victim 1 run toward the apartments. The witness said he then saw Foots point a gun at a vehicle which was being driven by victim 2. The witness said victim 2 pulled off in the vehicle and Foots shot into the vehicle. The witness described the weapon as a small dark colored .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun.
Foots was located at an apartment on the eastside of Pine Bluff and was taken to the Detective Office where he was read his rights in the presence of his mother. Both of them acknowledged their rights and signed the rights form.
When Foots was questioned, he said he had picked up the juvenile and Foots’ brother and they had gone to Village Green Apartments so they could get some money from the juvenile’s uncle. He said they saw a male reaching into his waistband and the juvenile he was with jumped the male (victim 1). Foots said he got out of the vehicle they had arrived at the apartments with his (Foots” brother) who had a .22-caliber pistol. Foots said he had a toy gun and said his brother is the one who fired the shots.
When he was asked where the toy gun and the .22-caliber gun were, Foots said he did not want to answer anymore questions and the interview was halted.
The homicide was the 23rd in Pine Bluff so far this year.
