Suspect in killing of girl, 9, arrested after park shooting

Little Rock police have arrested one of the suspects wanted in connection with the shooting that killed a 10-year-old girl and critically injured a man Saturday afternoon at Boyle Park.

Police served Ladarius Burnett his arrest warrant after he surrendered to detectives, according to a Sunday night Little Rock police tweet. They are still looking for Eric Hall Jr. in connection with the shooting.

The girl, who was identified by her mother in a Facebook post Sunday as Ja’Aliyah Hughes, was not the intended target of the shooting, Police Chief Keith Humphrey said.

She was at the park with her family, he said, and police are still looking into whether and how the family may have known the suspects.

“We’re doing everything we can do,” he said.

Several people gathered around Ja’Aliyah’s mother, Laquita Bradley, Sunday afternoon by a growing arrangement of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals at the park.

Bradley said her daughter was a bright, smart girl who loved to read and had been an honors student since the first grade.

“They took my baby,” she said. “When I became pregnant with her, she changed me. That was my strength. That was my motivation to where I am right now. They robbed me of my own child.”

Ward 6 City Director Doris Wright said this type of violence has to stop.

“This is an appalling incident in our community in a park,” she said. “This girl was with her family, which is where we want her to be, and that’s not even a safe place to be. You’re still at risk of getting shot. Enough is enough. Little Rock, you have a problem. … We’re taking our best and putting them in the ground.”

Humphrey said he does not consider the shooting reckless, but rather, intentional.

As of Sunday evening, police have not released any more information about the man who was critically injured during the shooting.

He has not been identified.