Sherwood affidavit details drug-deal slaying

A 19-year-old arrested last month and charged in a Feb. 1 Sherwood homicide tried to steal drugs from the victim, who was shot dead in an ensuing car chase, according to police documents that identified the victim for the first time.

Sherwood officers responded around 7:43 p.m. Feb. 1 to a report of an SUV struck by gunfire that had crashed into a house in the 8500 block of East Woodruff Avenue. They found Derrick Edwards, 21, hunched over in the passenger seat, an affidavit written by a police detective states.

Edwards was pronounced dead at the scene, the affidavit states.

On Feb. 17, police announced that they’d arrested Darien Bennett, 19, of Little Rock and charged him with capital murder in the shooting. He was being held in the Pulaski County jail without bail on Friday afternoon, an online inmate roster showed.

By questioning witnesses including Edwards’ girlfriend and mother and consulting video surveillance footage and phone records, police determined that Bennett came over to buy marijuana from Edwards and tried to steal a box containing 20 vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana and THC vape cartridges, the affidavit states.

Bennett dropped the box as he fled to a Nissan Maxima while Edwards retrieved a gun from his mother’s purse and set out in pursuit, the affidavit says. At some point during the chase, Edwards’ SUV was hit by gunfire, and he was fatally wounded, the affidavit says.

Police located 13 9mm shell casings near the crash scene.

It was not clear from the affidavit whether Edwards was driving at the time and moved to the passenger seat during or after the crash, or if the driver had fled the scene before police arrived.

Pulaski County deputies on Feb. 4 located the Maxima on Carter Road near College Station, the affidavit states. The Nissan had two “bullet defects” and had been severely burned shortly before deputies discovered it, leading detectives to believe that someone tried to destroy evidence.

Detectives connected Bennett to the Nissan by way of a photo posted on Facebook by a car dealership that showed Bennett, the car dealer and another person in front of the Nissan, the affidavit says. Text accompanying the post stated that the Nissan was the dealer’s first sale made from the lot.