PB man charged in November killing

PINE BLUFF — A Pine Bluff man has been charged in connection with the November shooting death of a 43-year-old man.

According to court records, Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter charged Toran Conaway, 27, with capital murder, abuse of a corpse, arson, and possession of firearms by certain persons in connection with the death of Albert Flowers Jr. of Pine Bluff.

Pine Bluff police and fire officials were called to a report of a vehicle fire in the 2300 block of East Pullen Street shortly before 6 p.m.

Nov. 9. According to a probable cause affidavit filed Jan. 7, police discovered Flowers’ body inside the burned out truck after the fire was put out.

The affidavit said that three witnesses near the scene reported seeing a black man near the truck, with one telling police the man told him he was looking for his phone, another telling police she saw the man running from the scene and another telling police as he was driving by he saw a man sitting in the truck who appeared to be “messing with” his phone.

As the investigation continued, the affidavit said, police gained information indicating that the initial crime scene was five miles away at 706 S. Persimmon St. In that neighborhood, police found three witnesses who told them they had seen the shooting. All three identified Conaway as the shooter.

One witness told police that Conaway and Flowers argued just before the shooting, and told police he did not hear anything specific other than the word “snitch.” He said shortly after the shooting he saw three vehicles, including Flowers’ black extended cab pickup, speeding away, the affidavit said.

Another witness told police that Conaway shot Flowers, who fell to the ground between some parked vehicles, and that Conaway then ran around the vehicles, stood over Flowers and shot him several more times, saying, “Die, die, die, b***h, die b***h,” as he shot Flowers.

The affidavit said the state Crime Laboratory found that Flowers was shot seven times and that three bullets were recovered from his body.

On Nov. 14, Conaway was picked up by police in Rison, and taken back to Pine Bluff for questioning.

According to court records, at the time of his arrest Conaway was serving four years probation after pleading guilty to two felony drug charges in September.