$250K Bond set for alleged shooter
Bond was set at $250,000 Friday for an 18-year-old man who allegedly shot a Louisiana man, also 18, in the back of the head in the parking lot of a local fast-food restaurant earlier this month.
Tony X. Thomas, of 1110
Detroit, appeared Friday in
35th Judicial District Court on a slew of felony charges that are connected to the
Sept. 8 shooting and his ensuing arrest on a warrant that was issued following the incident.
Thomas is accused of firing a gun at a group of males in the parking lot of
McDonald’s, 1730 N. West
Ave., and striking 18-year-old
Cazaro McNeal of Bernice,
Louisiana, in the back of the head at approximately 1:30 a.m.
Officers initially responded to a report of a shooting victim in the area of Hillsboro and Timberlane and saw a red Chevrolet Impala stopped in the northbound lane of Timberlane, just north of Hillsboro.
They noted the car’s hazard lights were flashing and a group of males were standing outside.
One of the males, later identified as McNeal, was holding what appeared to be a bloody rag to the back his head, police said.
When McNeal removed the rag, officers saw a “large
lump” on the back of his head and what looked to be a bullet embedded inside.
Officers advised McNeal to continue applying pressure to the wound and summoned emergency medical technicians to the scene.
Police said the front driver’s and rear passenger’s windows were shattered and there were what appeared to be bullet holes underneath the driver’s window and on the right rear side of the vehicle.
Glass fragments littered the front driver’s seat and floorboard, the backseat and the roadway, and the front tire was flat and had separated from the rim, officers said.
McNeal told officers he and his friends were talking with a group of females they had just met on the McDonald’s parking lot when a car drove up and someone began firing shots at them.
McNeal said he was sitting in the center of the backseat of the Impala at the time and was struck by a bullet. He told police he did not recognize the vehicle nor did he know who shot him.
His friends then got inside the vehicle and drove away in search of a hospital, McNeal said.
The other occupants of the Impala provided similar statements. No other injuries were reported.
A witness told police that a Ford Expedition drove into the parking lot, and a
male exited and began firing a gun at the Impala.
Witnesses said three to five shots were fired.
The suspect was described as “a short black male, wearing a white shirt and dark pants.”
McNeal was transported by ambulance to Medical Center of South Arkansas. He was treated and released for further treatment at medical facilities in North Louisiana.
He has since been released, said Capt. Kevin Holt, public information officer for the El Dorado Police Department.
Thomas was developed as a suspect in the shooting and a warrant issued for his arrest.
He was taken into custody just before noon Wednesday when police
stopped his vehicle, a tan Ford Expedition, at the intersection of Jackson and Beech.
While on the lookout for the suspect’s vehicle, officers spotted the SUV at Thomas’ residence.
They then saw Thomas exit the residence and drive away in the vehicle, heading south on Detroit before turning west on Beech.
Officers conducted a traffic stop because Thomas did not have a valid driver’s license. Traffic citations were subsequently written for no driver’s license and no proof of liability insurance.
Thomas was then taken into custody on a warrant for first-degree battery, aggravated assault, terroristic threatening, first-degree, committing a felony with
a firearm and hindering apprehension or prosecution.
A search of the SUV yielded additional felony charges of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and possession of drugs paraphernalia.
After he was taken into custody, Thomas told police there was marijuana inside a backpack that was in the SUV.
Police said they instead found a handgun and large baggie containing marijuana inside another bag in the backseat.
During his first appearance hearing Friday, Thomas was issued two bonds totaling $250,000, cash or corporate surety.
He received a $150,000 bond on the charges listed in the arrest and an additional $100,000 bond was levied on the charges stemming from the inventory search of the vehicle.
Thomas was determined indigent and will be appointed a public defender.
He remained in the Union County Jail Friday night in lieu of bond.
If Thomas is released on bond, he is to abide by a daily curfew of 5 p.m. until 7 a.m. He was also ordered not to have any contact with McNeal or the other occupants of the Chevrolet Impala.
Police have not yet established a motive for the shooting.