JONESBORO, Ark. – When a man was admitted to the emergency room Tuesday evening with a gunshot wound, it was first thought to have been a shooting but further investigation by detectives led them to determine otherwise.
The following is the raw narrative report from the Jonesboro Police Department incident report 19-03879, filed at 8:20 PM on April 30, 2019.
First, the responding officer’s report and then the detective’s report. All of the text between the separator lines is from police and is public record available to anyone upon request.
Narrative – Merrill, Brian C – 4/30/2019 (Initial) On 04/30/2019 at approximately 1832 Officer Ivy and I were dispatched to an incident report of Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) being dropped of at the emergency room of St. Bernards medical facility with a gun shot wound.
Upon arrival we met with Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) in the trauma room and he told officer Ivy that he was at Cedar Heights walking around when he meet some females. While Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) was smoking c/s with these females in the passenger seat of a car somebody reached into the passenger window with a gun and shot Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) in the middle finger of his left hand and into his left ankle. Officer Ivy and I then met with Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) and he proceeded to tell us that he had no involvement and no idea what had actually happened. Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) says he only found out that his brother had been shot and he then drove Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) to the hospital.
When Detective Fox showed up on scene he spoke with Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) first. Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) informed the Detective that Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) did indeed shoot himself accidentally. When Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) was questioned he was unwilling to admit that he in fact accidentally shot himself. Detective Fox said he believed Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) did accidentally shoot himself and felt there was no more investigating to be done. At this time Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) was informed that he was free to go and visit with Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn). Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) was left in the care of St. Bernards with no further criminal investigation.
Narrative – Fox, Shane – 5/1/2019 (Initial) On 04-30-19, I was contacted by my supervisor and advised that an individual had been shot and was at the St. Bernard’s Emergency Room.
Upon arrival on scene, I spoke with Officer Ivy who advised that the individual was brought in a personal vehicle by a friend and advised that some unknown person had shot him in the finger and the ankle. I then made contact with the victim/suspect. Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) advised me that he was walking down Belt Street when he noticed a young black female driving a black four door passenger car. She waved him over and asked if he wanted to smoke a blunt with her. He got in to the vehicle and was smoking with her when an unknown person stuck a gun in the passenger window and shot him. Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) could not describe the suspect, the female driver, or the location where the incident happened. He stated that after he was shot, he ran from the vehicle and the female drove off in an unknown direction. He did not see the suspect at any time other than the suspect’s arm holding a black handgun at the time of the shooting.
Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) stated that he ran down the street and flagged down the first person he saw, which was Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell). He then asked Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) to drive him to the emergency room. Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) stated that he did not know Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) but had seen him before. Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) stated that he was not from Jonesboro so he could not give a very accurate description of the incident location but it was somewhere on Belt Street near Cedar Heights.
I then went to the Emergency Room parking lot and spoke with Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell). He advised that Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) was his “brother” and he had known him for a long time. He stated that he observed Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) walk out of a house on Belt Street and ask for a ride to the emergency room. He said he put Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) in to the passenger seat of his vehicle but due to excessive bleeding, he moved him to the back seat. He then drove him to the emergency room. I could tell that Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) was not being completely honest so I questioned him further about the details of the incident. He finally admitted that Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) had exited the unknown house and stated that he had shot himself accidentally and he needed to go to the hospital. He then drove him to St. Bernard’s. Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) advised that he was hesitant to tell the truth because he had just been released from prison on the day before the incident and he didn’t want to get in trouble. I asked again and Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) once again stated that no one shot Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) other than the self inflicted gunshot wound.
Also in the parking lot was the mother of Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell). She advised that Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) and Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) were very close and had been for a long time. She stated that her son told her when he was leaving the residence to drive Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) to the emergency room that he had shot himself accidentally. She believed the two subjects were attempting to cover for each other so that no one would be criminally prosecuted.
I went in to the Emergency Room and spoke with Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) again and he continued to state that he did not know Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell) and that the details of the incident that he gave earlier that day were accurate. When I confronted him about the details that had been given by Witness #1 (Love, Deonte Dornell), he finally admitted that they were “brothers” and they had known each other for a long time. He maintained his story of being shot by an unknown suspect. During the confrontation, Suspect #1 (Peoples, Andre Dshawn) was very slow to answer and wouldn’t look at me. At one point, he stated that “Mr. Love” gave the correct statement but later recanted and stated that the initial story was true.
Upon viewing the injuries, the gunshot wounds would be consistent with someone who was sitting or possibly standing and negligently discharging a firearm at a downward angle.
This case is believed to be a self inflicted gunshot wound. No crime scene could be established due to the missing/incorrect information given by the two parties involved.
This case will be CLOSED without further investigation.
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