Little Rock Police Arrest Shooting Suspect

The person suspected of firing first during a mass shooting at a Little Rock rap concert last summer has been arrested, police said Wednesday.

No one died in the July 1 melee, but 28 people were injured. Little Rock police Capt. Russell King said Wednesday that Tyler Jackson was the first to fire a weapon as Ricky Hampton, who raps under the name Finese2Tymes, performed at the Power Ultra Lounge in the city’s downtown.

AP Photo/Kelly P. Kissel – Little Rock
Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner speaks during a news conference Wednesday, October 18, 2017, at police headquarters in Little Rock, Ark,. about the recent arrest of a suspect in a July nightclub shooting.

“He’s a kid; 19 years old,” King said after a news conference at police headquarters.

Jackson faces three counts of second-degree battery and six aggravated assault charges. King said Jackson, who was in the crowd, fired nine times and that others around him later shot their weapons.

Twenty-five people were hurt by the gunfire and three more suffered other injuries while trying to escape the club.

Hampton’s bodyguard, Kentrell Gwynn, previously was charged with 10 counts of aggravated assault, and Hampton faces unrelated federal charges tied to an earlier shooting at an eastern Arkansas nightclub.

King and others declined to say who Jackson may have been shooting at. Officers said they viewed video footage from inside the Power Ultra Lounge as part of their investigation. They wouldn’t elaborate on how they identified Jackson as the first shooter.

“We still have an active ongoing investigation,” Chief Kenton Buckner said.

Pulaski County jail records showed that Jackson was booked late Wednesday, but no bond amounts were listed for the nine counts he faces. There was no record of whether he has a lawyer.

After the shooting, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson formed a task force of local, state and federal agencies, saying a “looming cloud of violence” would harm the entire state, not just Little Rock.

The city’s mayor, Mark Stodola, said some victims are still recovering from “this dastardly act.”

“We want to thank God that no one was killed,” he said.