Prosecutors: Arrest suspect in slaying

LITTLE ROCK — Pulaski County prosecutors are calling for the arrest of a 20-yearold capital murder suspect, claiming that he violated his bond conditions last week when Faulkner County sheriff’s deputies found him with a misdemeanor amount of marijuana.

Avron Terrall Ward Britton of Maumelle, also charged with first-degree battery and three counts of attempted capital murder, is accused of shooting up a crossover sport utility vehicle on Ludwig Street in Little Rock, killing driver Dorian Ke’Shon Withers, 18, of North Little Rock two days before Christmas 2020. He had been shot in the head and both legs.

Three others in the vehicle escaped injury while a bystander, 60-year-old Victor Buchanan, a Ludwig Street resident, was wounded. Bullets also struck the home of 90-year-old Grace Washington. Britton was arrested six days later and spent about a year in jail before posting a $500,000 bond.

Britton was already in trouble with the law when Withers was killed. He and three co- defendants were awaiting trial on first-degree battery and aggravated robbery charges over accusations they had robbed and shot a man, 26-year-old Nathaniel Dominic Williams, in May 2019 at the Fair Oaks apartments, 9600 W. 36th St., in Little Rock.

On Monday, deputy prosecutor Justin Brown petitioned presiding Judge Karen Whatley to revoke Britton’s $500,000 bond, citing his Jan. 23 encounter with deputies in Greenbrier.

According to the petition, Britton, driving a blue Hyundai Sonata, was stopped on South Broadview Street for a missing license plate. When Britton rolled down his window, a “huge cloud” of marijuana-scented smoke came out of the vehicle.

Britton was arrested after the marijuana was found while his two 18- year- old passengers, Carlos Jermaine Thurman and Yahsir Ellis, both of Little Rock, were released without charges. Britton was released after posting $1,050 cash bail.

According to police, Britton became a suspect in Withers’ slaying after police learned Withers’ girlfriend, Tituana Mechelle Walls, 21, of Little Rock, and the three survivors from the SUV had been feuding with someone named Chuck for some time up until the shooting. Detectives know Britton to use the Chuck nickname, according to police reports.

Nelson Willie Mann, 20, of Little Rock, one of the SUV survivors, told police that shortly before the shooting Chuck had contacted the four of them through Instagram, telling them to come to the John Barrow neighborhood where he was waiting for them.

Taylor Cornelius Hawkins, 20, of Little Rock, the second survivor, said they were on South Rodney Parham Road when they got the Instagram message, which did not show Chuck but had his voice and showed the corner of West 36th Street and John Barrow Road, which police said was about five blocks from the shooting scene.

Both Mann and Hawkins said gunfire broke out almost immediately when they turned onto Ludwig, with the SUV crashing into a vehicle parked on the roadside.

Mann said he and the two others got out of the SUV and ran, telling investigators there was more than one shooter, describing how he could see one of them in the flashing gunfire. Police collected 25 shell casings — 10 .40-caliber and 15 9mm.

Hawkins said he did not see the shooters but identified Britton from a photograph as the man he knew as Chuck, saying he’d known Chuck for years.

Cortez Dishon Madison Duncan, 20, the third survivor, said he knew that several people were feuding with Walls and sending her threats, but he did not see who had shot at them.

Questioned after his arrest, Britton said he didn’t know anything about the slaying, stating that he was at his brother’s house on Elam Street at the time Withers was killed.

During the investigation, police were able to match the .40-caliber casings to a shooting six days before the killing. In that case, someone opened fire on a couple sitting in a car, Troy Douglas Austin, 43, and Lassandra Green, 39, outside Austin’s home at 55 Rosemoor Drive. No one was injured.

Since Withers was killed, police report that Mann has survived another fatal shooting, one that killed a 72-yearold homeless man, Randel Corum, at the Shell Road Runner convenience store, 820 Broadway, in downtown Little Rock.

Police have charged a 24-year-old Little Rock man, Antwone Kesean Alford, with first- degree murder, three counts of committing a terroristic act and six counts of aggravated assault.

Police say an unidentified passenger in Alford’s car started shooting toward a second car, with a passenger in that vehicle returning fire. Alford, who had just left the store, joined his companion in shooting at the second car, resulting in an exchange of gunfire between the two vehicles.

Alford told police that occupants of another car were the first to start shooting, targeting his passenger whom he knew only as CJ, and that he had returned fire in defense of himself and CJ. He said CJ had run from the parking lot while he drove to a relative’s home, where police found him.

Mann was one of the seven people in that second car, with two of them children. Corum was killed in the crossfire, the only casualty. There had been four vehicles at the pumps, according to police, who also reported that much of the gunfire, but not Corum’s killing, was recorded on the store’s security cameras. The others in the car with Mann include his brother, 22-year-old Cortez Duncan, 24-year-old Robert Boykin Jr. and Boykin’s sisters, Elaine Ross and Christy Winfrey.

Mann told police he and the others had stopped for gas, then were leaving when someone opened fire on them. He first told police he didn’t fire back, stating that he had ducked down on the floor. But he later told police he’d fire a .380 pistol after hearing bullets hit the car.