Here’s the open line. The developing news comes from the LRPD, with troubling reports about the two fatal shootings about seven blocks apart late Saturday night not far from State Fairgrounds.
Police are now saying they believe the fatal shootings at 24th and Schiller and 28th and Wolfe might be related. And they have put out safety alerts about the Southside neighborhood on account of threatening behavior toward news reporters.
At 1:07 p.m., Lt. Sidney Allen put out this “safety alert”
I just received a call from a reporter that advised they were chased away from the scene at 28th and Wolfe with a baseball bat. This area was extremely hostile and volatile towards the police last night and we recommend extreme caution if you choose to film in that area. We have increased patrols in the area as well.
About an hour later, a TV news reporter responded to Allen:
Just wanted to give you a heads up, a similar situation happened to one of our photographers at the 24th St. location.
We sent him in a marked station vehicle to scope out the location and see if he felt comfortable trying to film. He told us that when he got to the location, 4 males began to swarm his car before he could even get out.
Needless to say, our photog drove off immediately, and we will not be sending anyone to shoot any of the locations as a safety precaution.
Then at 3:29 p.m., Lt. Allen wrote:
More concerns. Investigators are looking into the possibility of these shootings being related. Please use caution when getting video at these and all locations. We are providing extra patrol to these areas with hopes that it will deter future violence.
Braylon Moore, 16, was fatally wounded in a hail of gunfire that peppered houses and cars around 24th and Schiller shortly before midnight. KATV, in an AP account, identified the man found shot to death just after midnight in a car on Wolfe Street as Brandon Fountain, 21. A Facebook page of a young Little Rock man by that name, and known as Big B, contains remembrances of him and also of Braylon Moore, known as Beezy. At least one photo taken in the Southside neighborhood includes both Fountain and Moore.