2 more robbed in LR neighborhood

Latest heists make 12 in two weeks for area south of I-30

Two armed robberies were reported over the weekend in a southwest Little Rock neighborhood where police recently increased patrols in response to a rash of holdups.

In one of the robberies, a man was shot.

Officers responded about 12:37 a.m. Saturday to 9428 Sunset Lane, where Fredrick Lawrence had walked to his girlfriend’s home after being shot in the leg. Lawrence, 38, was taken to CHI St. Vincent Infirmary for treatment. His condition was unknown.

Lawrence told police he’d pulled over at Lara Lane and Reck Road, a few blocks from his girlfriend’s home, to “mess with his CD player,” according to a police report. A black man jumped into the passenger seat, pointed a black handgun at Lawrence and demanded his property. When Lawrence told the man he had nothing, the man shot him, according to the report.

Lawrence told investigators that he played dead while the robber went through his pockets and took his cellphone, cash and car keys. Lawrence went door to door asking for help after the robber fled. No one answered, so he walked more than a mile to his girlfriend’s house and called police.

He was the 11th person to be robbed at gunpoint in the area in the past two weeks.

Police responded to the 12th about 6:22 p.m. Sunday.

Alejandra Bobadia, 22, told police he’d stepped outside of his trailer at 9201 Sunset Lane and been approached by two black males. One of them pulled out a silver handgun and took Bobadia’s wallet and iPhone, according to a police report. The robbers fled in a vehicle described as a white Buick LeSabre.

Bobadia’s roommate told police that he followed the vehicle about 3 miles west to 10308 Tela Drive, where he believed he saw the robbers walk inside. Officers went to the home and spoke to Robert Bogard and his 13-year-old son. Bogard, 35, told police they’d just driven from his aunt’s house. Officers took no further action.

Police spokesman Lt. Sidney Allen did not return calls Monday seeking comment on the latest robberies in the neighborhood, a roughly 2-square-mile area straddling Baseline Road south of Interstate 30.

More than 15 percent of the city’s 46 robberies of individuals this year had occurred in the area as of Jan. 26, the last date such police data was released. Those figures do not include the five most recent robberies in the neighborhood.

The robberies had accounted for more than 43 percent of holdups in the Little Rock police southwest division this year.

The city’s 46 robberies of individuals was the same number through Jan. 26 of last year.

Investigators believe at least six robberies in the neighborhood, which occurred within a two-hour span last Tuesday, are related.

Police were looking at the similarities of others. In most of the robberies, victims were held up at gunpoint outside their homes by a group of men. Some victims told police they believe they were followed home from nearby restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations.

Most victims were Hispanic.

Robert Earl Corney, 20, a resident of the neighborhood, was charged last week in one of the holdups. Allen said police expected robberies in the area would decrease after Corney’s arrest. The additional robberies and their similarities led investigators to suspect Corney was part of a robbery crew operating in the area, Allen said.

Police increased patrols in the neighborhood last Wednesday, but have reported no arrests since then.

An investigation is ongoing.