Little Rock Police Aggressively Work to Keep the Streets Safe

5 teams of police hunt LR suspects
One of five sought in killings arrested

BY JIM BROOKS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Five different teams of Little Rock police officers - one for each murder warrant to be served - fanned out across the city Friday to hunt for suspects in violent crimes going back to last year.

Of the murder suspects sought, police arrested one, Germanic Ricks, 23, who is charged with first-degree murder in the April 23 slaying of Adrian Whitmore.

Although Little Rock has seen a sharp increase this year in the number of homicides - 33, compared with 13 through the same period last year - detectives are keeping up with arrests in those cases.

Ricks’ arrest brings the number of cases that have seen an arrest to 18, with warrants obtained in two other cases.

On Friday morning, detectives gathered at police headquarters to plan their strategy, which was documented by news photographers who ac- companied each team.

“We are trying to arrest five murder suspects as well as suspects in shootings, rapes and burglaries,” Little Rock police spokesman Sgt. Terry Hastings said. “It’s important for the citizens to know that if you commit a crime here, you will be caught.”

Ricks was arrested without a struggle at Crestwood Apartments, 3802 Kavanaugh Blvd., police said.

Officers found weapons inside the apartment.

“We got a.45-caliber Ruger [semiautomatic handgun], a magazine for an SKS [military style rifle], and a bulletproof vest,” Hastings said.

Shortly after 11 a.m., officers escorted a shirtless Ricks into police headquarters. A short time later, he was taken to the Pulaski County jail, where he was being held without bail Friday night.

Police said Whitmore, 25, was discovered shot to death on the couch of a home at 2401 S. Vance St., a short distance from Horace Mann Middle School.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the murder warrant, a witness told police that a man jumped through a glass door at the home, armed with a shotgun, and asked where “Tony” was.

“The witness said the suspect then fired a round into the TV and window and possibly one in the wall next to Whitmore,” detective Mark Knowles wrote in the affidavit. “The witness said he was unsure when Whitmore was shot.”

A few weeks later, detectives received a call from a witness who believed Ricks had something to do with Whitmore’s slaying.

The witness said Ricks, in a telephone call, said “his [Ricks’ ] life was over,” Knowles wrote.

The witness said that in a meeting a few days after the slaying, Ricks said “he had gotten into an altercation with a guy and the guy shot at him and he shot back,” according to the affidavit.

On Friday afternoon, another team served a warrant at 7 Southern Oaks Drive in southwest Little Rock.

The man they were looking for, Riley Lee Sims, 28, attempted to crawl out a rear window, but retreated when confronted by police.

After a few tense minutes, detective Spencer Ellison climbed into the scorching attic and found Sims crouching in a corner.

Sims was charged with second-degree battery involving a family member and parole revocation.

He professed his innocence all the way to the patrol car.

“What’s up with all these cameras, man?” he asked no one in particular.

This story was published Saturday, June 10, 2006