Court files detail gas station gunfire
Shooter sat in truck, witnesses say
A 38-year-old man is accused of shooting three people last month when, police say, he opened fire from a truck outside a Little Rock convenience store, according to court documents obtained last week.
Police arrested Rudnick Wilson in connection with a July 23 shooting in the parking lot of a Valero gas station at 7200 W. 12th St., outside a Big Red convenience store. He now faces 11 felony charges related to the shooting.
Wilson was identified as the man who got into a silver Ford F-150 moments before shots were fired from the vehicle, according to an affidavit written by Little Rock police detective Paige Cline.
Authorities interviewed 28-year-old Talesha Little, who said a man drove up to the parking lot and pulled up too close to her vehicle, preventing her from getting inside, the affidavit said.
After being approached by Little, the man moved the vehicle and went into the convenience store, according to the document. She told police that the man seemed “agitated” when he pulled up and that he was mumbling to himself when she approached him.
When he walked out of the store, the man started an argument with some of Little’s friends who were by a gas pump, according to the court documents. Little told police that the man then got in the silver Ford truck.
According to the affidavit, Little said the man began to drive when she heard eight or nine shots coming from the truck. Officials said they later found 11 spent shell casings in the parking lot.
In a photo lineup, Little identified Wilson as the man in the silver Ford truck, police said.
The bullets hit three people — Caleb Turner, 30; Bobby Mims, 30; and Carlos Henson, 30. Police said none of the three had life-threatening injures.
“He was just recklessly shooting,” Henson said Saturday, recalling the incident that left him with a bullet lodged in his leg. Besides that bullet wound, a bullet also grazed one of his legs, he said, barely missing his Achilles tendon.
Henson described the shooting as senseless and said he was visiting from Indiana for a wedding when the shooting occurred.
Henson said he did not know the shooter and that the man who walked out of the convenience store was looking for any reason to get in an argument.
Henson said that after the shots rang out, he tended to his friends as emergency medical personnel rushed to the scene. He realized he had been shot only after a medic pointed out that he was limping and bleeding from his leg, Henson said.
Henson, who is legally blind and works as a motivational speaker, said he sees the shooting as a test of his strength.
“It’s all about your mindset,” he said.
According to the court documents, Crystal Hardy, 37, said she was sitting in her vehicle in the parking lot when Wilson stepped out of the truck. Hardy told authorities that Wilson had driven the truck close to another vehicle. She recognized Wilson because they had graduated from high school together, she told authorities.
When Wilson walked out of the store, Hardy told police, he started an argument with some people by the gas pumps, according to the documents. The affidavit said she also saw a handgun on the side of Wilson’s waistband.
Police found the silver truck in the parking lot of the Briarwood Apartments on Rodney Parham Road shortly after the shooting, the affidavit said. Authorities found that the truck was reported stolen in 2015.
Authorities arrested Wilson on Geyer Springs Road days after the shooting, according to an arrest report.
Wilson faces three counts of first-degree battery and eight counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, according to an arrest report. He was listed on the Pulaski County jail’s roster Saturday afternoon.