PHILLIPS COUNTY, Ark. — Family and friends say a father was killed outside of his home in Phillips County, Arkansas on Wednesday night.
Deputies say Deandre Arnold, 39, known as “Mon” to friends, was shot in a possible attempted robbery. The shooting happened off County Road 113 in the Poplar Grove area, about 20 minutes outside of Helena-West Helena.
“The guy got out of the car and started shooting at him,” friend and neighbor Roy Williams explained.
Williams said he saw two men show up at Arnold’s home and saw one of the men start shooting at Arnold after he was dropped off. Arnold was hit by several bullets.
Williams called 911 and tried to save his friend.
“We tried CPR on him and applied pressure to one of the gunshot wounds.”
During the shooting the car took off and the man accused of pulling the trigger did too, except he was running.
“He was hollering, ‘lady help me! Lady help me!’”
Eva Henderson lives a few minutes up the highway from Arnold’s home and was outside feeding her cats when she spotted the accused gunman, deputies identified as 28-year-old Jaucorian Davis.
However Henderson, who had just heard gunshots, felt like something was off.
“I got real scared and closed my door and locked my door,” she said.
She says Davis refused to leave her alone and continued to beat on doors and windows. “He was just beating on the door so he went to the window where the air conditioning unit was and just started rambling it. It just felt like he was tearing the whole house up.”
Davis was able to push the AC unit through and get inside the home. Once inside he repeatedly asked a terrified Henderson for help and to use her phone.
“When he was prancing around I had seen that he had a gun in his pants pocket,” she explained. She says he continued to pace around while moving from her living room to her kitchen, asking for a ride.
She had to think fast.
“I gave him the cell phone for fear of my life. After he kept telling me that he wanted me to take him somewhere, I’m like, ‘No. I’m not doing that. I’m not taking you nowhere.’ So I gave him the keys and told him to take my car and just leave my house,” Henderson said.
A little later deputies say they spotted the stolen car and arrested Davis after a chase that ended in a crash.
Henderson says her faith kept her safe.
“Oh my God! I was like face to face with death and I didn’t know it.”
Deputies are still searching for the other suspect – the driver of the car Davis was initially in. Investigators would not say who he is.
Family and friends plan to hold a vigil for Arnold on Friday.
