4-year-old dies from gunshot wound
LR officer carried boy to ambulance; detectives label it an accident
A 4-year-old boy died Friday afternoon in what police officers said was an accidental shooting at a west Little Rock apartment complex.
A 911 caller told Little Rock dispatch a child had been shot at an apartment in the 2100 block of Labette Manor Drive, Little Rock police spokesman officer Eric Barnes said. The child was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Whether the gunshot was self-inflicted or if another person in the apartment pulled the trigger was not immediately clear, but Barnes said late Friday evening that detectives believe the shooting to be accidental.
LaVern Foster was sitting on her front patio Friday afternoon when she heard the screaming.
Foster said the Westbridge Apartment complex, a collection of 17 apartment buildings west of John Barrow Road, is a community of its own where people know one an
other. Neighbors and family members call Foster “Granny,” and the 64-year-old said she treats everyone like her grandchildren.
As she spoke, she spotted a teenager walking past her patio Friday afternoon.
“Put your shirt on. There’s people here,” Foster told him.
“Yes ma’am,” the teen said, before pulling a gray shirt over his head as he walked.
Foster said she never heard a gunshot, but just after noon, she heard screaming from across the drive that separates apartment buildings. At first, Foster thought perhaps there was a fight, so she walked over to put a stop to it.
Another resident — a young, pregnant woman who asked not to be identified — heard the screaming, too, but said she knew something was wrong.
“When I heard this scream … this was not a normal scream,” the woman said. “That’s what made me run over there. She started screaming, ‘My baby shot himself in the eye.’”
When Foster turned the corner between the apartment building and the street, she stopped.
“I never wanted to see that,” Foster said, shaking her head.
The woman was standing over her child, whose face had been mangled beyond recognition and whose blood was spreading across the floor, Foster said.
“I just hit my knees and started praying,” Foster said. “I knew there wasn’t anything else to do.”
At least three residents called 911, including Foster, the pregnant woman and the child’s mother, witnesses said.
“It just … I knew it wasn’t going to be fast enough,” the pregnant woman said. “The baby … he was gasping.”
The first officer who arrived on scene knew there wasn’t much time, too, the pregnant woman said. The officer scooped the child up in his arms and ran toward the medics who were pulling into the drive.
Barnes later confirmed the officer had tried to get the child to medics quickly, carrying the child across the parking lot to where Fire Department first-responders had just arrived.
When medics took the child to a hospital, witnesses said the officer went, too.
“This is one more reason we preach, as a police department, gun safety,” Barnes said. “This is a terrible tragedy.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public health data, 117 children younger than 17 died from gunshot wounds in Arkansas between 2007 and 2017. Of those deaths, 30 were considered unintentional, according to the report.
By 1 p.m. Friday, homicide detectives and a crime scene unit were milling in and out of the apartment. Barnes said that, though they believe the shooting to be accidental, investigators wanted to preserve the crime scene long enough to make a clear determination.
On the asphalt near one patrol car sat a pile of white, stained washcloths and an orange latex glove that was turned inside out, laid as if someone pulled it off in a hurry.
Multiple residents, including Foster and the young woman, gathered outside in the shade and waited for police officers to give an update on the child’s condition. When the pregnant woman heard the little boy had died, she buried her face in her hands and wept.
Several neighbors walked up to Foster’s apartment, tears streaming down their faces, where Foster would wrap her thin arms around them or lay a hand on their shoulder.
Only after the others walked away did Foster’s eyes fill.
“It’s a never-ending cycle,” Foster said. “Now a baby is dead. I keep a tight grip on this place … but we need help.”
She was silent for a few moments and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.
“How are you going to put a baby in a coffin? What do you do now?”