After chase, man arrested in fatal Spa City shooting

HOT SPRINGS — A Mountain Pine man was arrested early Friday morning and charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Hot Springs man.

Matthew Lashawn Babb, 28, was arrested after a short manhunt after Nicholas Rodriquez, 21, was found dead at a Hobson Avenue residence about 12:05 a.m.

It was the first reported homicide of 2015 in Garland County.

A Hot Springs police report said an officer was on patrol in the area of North Patterson and Baxter streets when he heard two gunshots. A few seconds later, the officer saw a silver Jeep Cherokee leaving the area at a high rate of speed.

The officer stopped the vehicle on Baxter Street, and the driver fled on foot, but three passengers remained inside the vehicle, the report said.

The report said that moments after the officer stopped the vehicle, police were notified that someone had been shot at 1215 Hobson Ave., about two blocks away from the location of the traffic stop.

A second officer responded to the shooting report and found Rodriquez dead from a gunshot wound.

The first officer and his K-9 partner, Raven, began to track the driver. Raven led officers to the rear of Albert Pike Tire, 100 Albert Pike Road, where Babb was found hiding under a vehicle.

Officers also located two handguns inside a trash dumpster at the same location.

After interviews and evidence collection, Babb was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He was held Friday at the Garland County jail on a $100,000 bond.

The report states the motive for the shooting appears to be drug related, but detectives and the Crime Scene Unit are still collecting evidence and conducting an investigation.