LR man sentenced 20 years in prison for series of attacks
A 36-year-old Little Rock man who’s never been in serious trouble with the law before has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting to a series of shootings that he said were an attempt to kill an acquaintance.
Sentencing papers show that Jason Michael Soderlund, formerly known as Jason Glenn Forrest, pleaded guilty last month to seven felony charges that together carry from five years to life in prison — criminal attempt to commit capital murder, unlawful discharge of a firearm, two counts of stalking and three counts of committing a terroristic act — in exchange for the sentence imposed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Cathi Compton. The plea agreement was negotiated by deputy prosecutor Christopher Turansky and public defender Alan Jones.
No one was injured in the attacks that were carried out over two days in September 2022, according to police reports and court files. The first attack was a pre-dawn shooting on Sept. 22 at the 11817 Pleasant Tree Drive home of 40-year-old Scott Kirkland that left part of a bullet lodged in the front window, although Kirkland did not discover it for hours.
A friend, 39-year-old Adam Belanger of Little Rock, was the first to call police that day, stating that shortly after he had left Kirkland’s home that morning, another driver had started shooting at his 2018 Jeep Compass somewhere around Green Mountain, St. Charles and Napa Valley streets.
Belanger said about 10 shots were fired as he tried to escape the shooter. His rear window was shot out and a bullet also struck the Jeep’s hatchback.
Kirkland called police about noon that same day to report that he’d found part of a bullet lodged in the window screen. The bullet had broken the glass pane. Kirkland said he discovered the broken window while checking his house after Belanger had called to tell him about being shot at.
While police were examThe
ining the property, a neighbor flagged down officers to report that she’d heard three gunshots about 5 a.m. but had not seen anything.
Kirkland said he hadn’t heard gunshots that night but heard a bang on his front door after Belanger left. He said he had heard glass breaking outside about 6 a.m. He said that two days earlier someone had turned off the power to his house about 2 a.m., but that he did not have any problems with anyone, aside from Soderlund, an “old friend” whom he hadn’t seen in about nine months.
That last encounter was documented in a Dec. 27, 2021, call to police by Kirkland about 3 a.m. He complained that Soderlund, who had been living with him for several months, had been knocking loudly on his bedroom door. Soderlund was gone when police arrived, and Kirkland told officers that he had been acting strangely for some time.
Two days later, on Sept. 24, someone fired three shots at Belanger’s home, 2 Manor Drive, shortly after 2 a.m, with his father showing police a bullet hole in his 2013 Toyota Prius and police later collecting two shell casings that had been found in the driveway.
About four days later, police were called to Kirkland’s house for a report of 10 shots fired. Officers arrived to find the fire department already on the scene.
Firefighters had been called earlier after someone discovered a fire caused by someone igniting Armor-All cleaning wipes in the bushes in front of the house. Police found a burned Armor-All canister and a black rubber glove nearby.
Kirkland wasn’t home, having temporarily moved out by then, and the residence appeared to have been struck by gunfire, with police finding two bullet holes in the front living room window, one in the front door and one, still containing a bullet fragment, embedded in the brick.
About four hours after the fire, Pulaski County sheriff’s deputies encountered Soderlund after he’d been involved in a car crash near Colonel Glenn and Beauchamp roads.
Soderlund told deputies that he wanted to confess to a crime, stating that he had earlier tried to kill Kirkland on Pleasant Tree Drive.
Soderlund, who had a gun in his backpack, talked to deputies. However, once Little Rock police got a chance to question him, Soderlund told investigators he wanted a lawyer to help him explain what had been going on due to him not being able to get help over the last 10 months. He was arrested that same day and has been jailed ever since.
During a search of his vehicle, police found a GPS-enabled dash camera with several videos on it. One recording shows Soderlund parked in Belanger’s driveway and firing five rounds with his pistol about four minutes before Belanger’s father called 911 to