Shooting in Little Rock- Ar. Democrat-Gazette
Man, 25, killed in drive-by shooting
Attacker in sedan leaned out window, fired on victim at gas pump
BY MICHAEL FRAZIER ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Gawking crowds lined the corners of a busy Little Rock intersection Wednesday afternoon, near where armed attackers killed a man in a drive-by shooting.
The 1:50 p.m. shooting occurred at the Express Mart service station at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Roosevelt Road, just east of the State Fairgrounds. Officers found Julian Christopher Branch, 25, of Little Rock on the ground near his blue Buick sedan with several gunshot wounds, police said.
Branch died a short time later at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock. His death is the seventh homicide in Little Rock this year.
"It was just like a war," recalled Odies Kitchen, 79, who said he witnessed the attack unfold but couldn’t identify the shooter. "One guy leaned out the rear window [of a car] with a long gun and just started shooting like 20 times."
Before the attack, Branch drove his Buick to the service station, where he pulled up to pump No. 2 and stepped out of his car.
Moments later, a gray sedan pulled into the lot. As the sedan drove through, a man riding in the back seat leaned out of a window with a firearm and shot at Branch, police said.
After Branch collapsed in the lot, the sedan quickly turned around on King Drive, returned and the gunman fired at least two more rounds at Branch, said Sgt. Terry Hastings, a Little Rock police spokesman.
The sedan then sped away west on Roosevelt Road, according to the police report.
When the shooting began, Kitchen, a plumber, was on his way to a home in need of repairs.
"They shot him [Branch] and he fell," Kitchen said. "Then they shot him again."
Bobby Skaggs, 32, of Jacksonville said he chased the attackers after he spotted the shooting while driving west on Roosevelt Road in his work truck. After following the car a few blocks, Skaggs decided it was best for him to turn back and check on Branch.
"I was concentrating on the driver," he said. "If he pointed that gun at me, I was hitting the brakes."
Napoleon Talley, who didn’t see the attackers, said he was startled by gunfire as he worked at Target Package Store, a liquor store at 1500 W. Roosevelt Road near the service station.
"I heard the shooting," Talley said. "When I got to the window, I just saw a fella lying on the ground."
Shortly after the shooting, a Pulaski County sheriff’s deputy, who was driving nearby when he heard gunshots, arrived at the service station and called 911 after finding Branch.
The sheriff ’s office is less than two miles from the service station.
Arriving minutes later, Little Rock police Sgt. Allen Quattlebaum pointed at one of at least two bullet holes in the metal frame of gas pump No. 2. At least one dent, apparently made by a bullet, could also be seen on the driver-side door of Branch’s car.
"We’re not sure what we have," Quattlebaum said, adding that investigators didn’t have a motive at the time.
As the officers continued their investigation, a crying woman dressed in red ducked under the police tape, but was stopped by officers as she approached two bloodied shirts belonging to Branch.
"Would someone please tell me what’s going on? Someone please tell me," the unidentified woman said.
A police officer said later that the woman was related to Branch.
Crime scene investigators found at least a dozen shell casings scattered on the lot.
Not far from a fresh blood trail outside the service station, officers stood over a small black handgun that investigators believe belonged to one of the attackers, Hastings said.
According to the police report, officers also found more than $1,000 cash and a.380-caliber handgun on Branch before emergency crews placed him in an ambulance.
In the police report, witnesses described the getaway car as a gray late-model sedan that resembled an Oldsmobile Cutlass.
Investigators are looking for at least two male suspects, but no detailed descriptions of the assailants were available Wednesday afternoon.
Days before the shooting, Branch had been involved in a few arguments, with one escalating into a fistfight. But Quattlebaum said the quarrels and the fight were not related to Wednesday’s attack.
Information for this article was contributed by Daniel Nasaw of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
This story was published Thursday, April 14, 2005
Attacker in sedan leaned out window, fired on victim at gas pump
BY MICHAEL FRAZIER ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Gawking crowds lined the corners of a busy Little Rock intersection Wednesday afternoon, near where armed attackers killed a man in a drive-by shooting.
The 1:50 p.m. shooting occurred at the Express Mart service station at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Roosevelt Road, just east of the State Fairgrounds. Officers found Julian Christopher Branch, 25, of Little Rock on the ground near his blue Buick sedan with several gunshot wounds, police said.
Branch died a short time later at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock. His death is the seventh homicide in Little Rock this year.
"It was just like a war," recalled Odies Kitchen, 79, who said he witnessed the attack unfold but couldn’t identify the shooter. "One guy leaned out the rear window [of a car] with a long gun and just started shooting like 20 times."
Before the attack, Branch drove his Buick to the service station, where he pulled up to pump No. 2 and stepped out of his car.
Moments later, a gray sedan pulled into the lot. As the sedan drove through, a man riding in the back seat leaned out of a window with a firearm and shot at Branch, police said.
After Branch collapsed in the lot, the sedan quickly turned around on King Drive, returned and the gunman fired at least two more rounds at Branch, said Sgt. Terry Hastings, a Little Rock police spokesman.
The sedan then sped away west on Roosevelt Road, according to the police report.
When the shooting began, Kitchen, a plumber, was on his way to a home in need of repairs.
"They shot him [Branch] and he fell," Kitchen said. "Then they shot him again."
Bobby Skaggs, 32, of Jacksonville said he chased the attackers after he spotted the shooting while driving west on Roosevelt Road in his work truck. After following the car a few blocks, Skaggs decided it was best for him to turn back and check on Branch.
"I was concentrating on the driver," he said. "If he pointed that gun at me, I was hitting the brakes."
Napoleon Talley, who didn’t see the attackers, said he was startled by gunfire as he worked at Target Package Store, a liquor store at 1500 W. Roosevelt Road near the service station.
"I heard the shooting," Talley said. "When I got to the window, I just saw a fella lying on the ground."
Shortly after the shooting, a Pulaski County sheriff’s deputy, who was driving nearby when he heard gunshots, arrived at the service station and called 911 after finding Branch.
The sheriff ’s office is less than two miles from the service station.
Arriving minutes later, Little Rock police Sgt. Allen Quattlebaum pointed at one of at least two bullet holes in the metal frame of gas pump No. 2. At least one dent, apparently made by a bullet, could also be seen on the driver-side door of Branch’s car.
"We’re not sure what we have," Quattlebaum said, adding that investigators didn’t have a motive at the time.
As the officers continued their investigation, a crying woman dressed in red ducked under the police tape, but was stopped by officers as she approached two bloodied shirts belonging to Branch.
"Would someone please tell me what’s going on? Someone please tell me," the unidentified woman said.
A police officer said later that the woman was related to Branch.
Crime scene investigators found at least a dozen shell casings scattered on the lot.
Not far from a fresh blood trail outside the service station, officers stood over a small black handgun that investigators believe belonged to one of the attackers, Hastings said.
According to the police report, officers also found more than $1,000 cash and a.380-caliber handgun on Branch before emergency crews placed him in an ambulance.
In the police report, witnesses described the getaway car as a gray late-model sedan that resembled an Oldsmobile Cutlass.
Investigators are looking for at least two male suspects, but no detailed descriptions of the assailants were available Wednesday afternoon.
Days before the shooting, Branch had been involved in a few arguments, with one escalating into a fistfight. But Quattlebaum said the quarrels and the fight were not related to Wednesday’s attack.
Information for this article was contributed by Daniel Nasaw of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
This story was published Thursday, April 14, 2005
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