Two teens draw 11 years in shooting

HOT SPRINGS — Two local teens, who are brothers, were both sentenced to 11 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to their involvement in the shooting of a 16-year-old girl in 2018 on Housley Point Road.

Latrell Trey Lamont Young, 19, and Isaiah Eugene Young, 17, both pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to a felony charge of first-degree battery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, for the Sept. 13, 2018, shooting of a 16-year-old girl who was found crawling across Housley Point Road with multiple gunshot wounds.

A court order permanently barring both brothers from any future contact with the victim was also issued.

A third alleged accomplice, Alphonzo Dewayne Ellis, 22, of Hot Springs, had pleaded guilty Aug. 11 to charges involving drugs and guns found in his car after wrecking it the day after the shooting. He was sentenced to 11 years on a charge of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and 10 years on a charge of possession of marijuana with purpose to deliver, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Ellis is also charged with first-degree battery in connection with the shooting and is set to stand trial Oct. 14, although the case is expected to be continued. Latrell Young was set to stand trial Oct. 20 and Isaiah Young was set for a disposition hearing Monday, but both of them opted to plead guilty Monday to the battery charge.

A gag order limiting pretrial publicity in the case issued in circuit court remains in place while the charge against Ellis is pending so prosecutors could not comment on the Young brothers’ pleas Monday.

Ellis and Latrell Young were charged in the shooting on Jan. 17 and Isaiah Young was charged on June 9. Ellis was arrested on the other charges on Sept. 14, 2018, and had remained in custody since then. Both the Youngs had also remained in custody after their arrests. Isaiah Young has been held at the Garland County Juvenile Detention Center because of his age, although he was charged as an adult.

According to the probable cause affidavits and previous reports regarding the shooting, the Garland County sheriff’s office had received a call shortly after noon Sept. 13, 2018, of a young female lying in the roadway with gunshot wounds.

A witness stated he found the victim crawling in the road and began first aid and “attempted to calm [her] until first responders arrived.” She was airlifted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital for treatment. Medical records later indicated she suffered a graze wound to her left shoulder and bullet wounds to her right shoulder, right neck area and her back.

Shortly after the shooting, sheriff’s investigators put out a “Be on the Lookout” alert for a maroon 2002 Honda CRV, which was reportedly the victim’s car.

That same day, shortly before 9 p.m., Hot Springs police located the Honda abandoned in the 200 block of Spargo Street with no one around it and notified sheriff’s investigators, who retrieved it and processed it for evidence.

About 3:30 p.m. Sept. 14, police responded to a hitand-run wreck at the intersection of Shady Grove Road and Fontana Street involving a blue Ford Expedition where the driver had fled the scene toward Ridgeview Street.

Officers reportedly found 11.5 ounces, or more than a half-pound, of marijuana, a .45-caliber handgun and 9mm pistol, multiple rounds of ammunition, several cellphones and tablets, two smoking pipes and three sets of digital scales.

About 30 minutes after the wreck was found, police located the driver, identified as Ellis, in the area of Ridgeview and took him into custody. He had the shooting victim’s driver’s license in his possession, and a pink jacket with dried blood on the elbows was found near where he was captured.

Ellis admitted to driving the Expedition and that the firearms and marijuana found belonged to him and also claimed the pink jacket belonged to him.

The 9mm found in the car was sent to the state Crime Laboratory for comparison to the expended shell casings found at the Housley Point scene, the affidavit states. On Oct. 5, 2018, the lab reported the casings were a positive match to the 9mm.

On Sept. 17, 2018, the victim was interviewed about the incident and stated she had been driving on Whittington Avenue when she was stopped by a black SUV and four males got out and approached her car. One male, she later identified as Ellis, ordered her to get out of the driver’s seat and into the back seat and then he drove the car.

She said Latrell Young was in the front passenger seat and Isaiah Young and another juvenile were in the back seat with her. After driving around Hot Springs for an unknown amount of time, they ended up in an area she was unfamiliar with and she was ordered out of the car.

She started walking, she said, and could hear a car approaching her from behind and then felt pressure hit her and “her ears started ringing” and she fell to the ground where she was eventually helped by a passer-by.

She reportedly picked Ellis and both Young brothers out of a photo lineup and warrants were later issued for all three.

Young