Fourth charged with motel break-in
A Hot Springs man who was shot May 9 while allegedly forcing his way into a Texas couple’s motel room was arrested Friday after his release from a local hospital.
Brandon Nathaniel Folsom, 30, was in critical condition after the shooting at the Econo Lodge,
1204 Central Ave., Hot Springs police said in a news release the day after the incident.
He was released from
CHI St. Vincent Hot
Springs on Friday and immediately taken into custody on a fel- ony charge of aggravated residential burglary, punishable by up to life in prison, and a misdemeanor count of third-degree battery,
punishable by up to one year in jail.
Folsom, who lists a Glazy Acres Court address, remained in custody Monday at the Garland County Detention Center on zero bond and a parole hold. Three other men arrested in connection with the attempted burglary, Jakota Rustin Clay,
29, Autumn Dean Polston, 26, and Bobby Jack Smith, 29, remained in custody Monday on the same charges. The four are set to appear May 30 in Garland County District Court.
The charges stem from the four men allegedly forcing their way into a room occupied by a Newark, Texas, man, 59, and his wife, 58. The Texas man, who had answered the door armed with a handgun, fired one shot after being knocked to the floor, striking Folsom in the torso. The bullet reportedly exited Folsom’s body and struck Smith in the area of his upper chest and shoulder.
According to the affidavit, shortly before 11:30 p.m. May 9 police Officer Richard Nunez was in the area of the Econo Lodge looking for a wanted person, identified as Clay, when he saw a group of individuals randomly banging on doors and windows of the rooms. He saw the group enter one room after the occupant opened the door. Then he heard a single gunshot and saw the group “run out of the room.”
Nunez and Cpl. Brandon Jones and his K-9, Keena, apprehended Clay a few blocks later after a short foot pursuit. Smith was located near the
400 block of West Grand and transported by LifeNet to St. Vincent. A few minutes later, Nunez learned Folsom and Polston had gone to St. Vincent by private vehicle.
The Texas man told police that he and his wife heard someone banging on their motel room’s door and, not knowing who it could be, he answered the door armed with his .22-caliber derringer-style handgun.
He said that as he opened the door Folsom hit him in the face, causing him to fall backward. He said he fired one shot that struck Folsom, causing him to double over, and then all three men fled the room, leaving Polston standing there. He said moments later Polston was pulled from the room by a second female, who was later questioned by police but not charged.
When questioned, Polston claimed she was robbed shortly prior to the incident by an unidentified subject who she believed was staying in the room occupied by the victims. She said she, Clay, Folsom and Smith left her room at the motel and walked over to the victims’ room to confront and “beat the a - - ” of the person who robbed her.
She said one of the men knocked on the door and when the male victim answered one of the men hit him. She said she then heard a gunshot and fled. She said she recalled looking back and seeing a white male pointing a gun at her and then saw Folsom with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
Clay was interviewed and reportedly denied having any knowledge of the incident.