PHOTOS: Families, friends hold vigil at Little Rock site where 3 found shot

Families and friends of three young people who were fatally shot in Little Rock last week gathered on Tuesday night for a vigil.
Families and friends of three young people who were fatally shot in Little Rock last week gathered on Tuesday night for a vigil.

The families of the three young people gunned down last weekend gathered Tuesday and begged for the community to give up the killers.

More cars and bodies than could fit on the small roadway gathered in the 4400 block of West 14th Street on Tuesday, where Arkansas Stop the Violence leaders Benny Johnson and Earnest Franklin had erected crosses to commemorate Kennelle Anderson, 20; LaTija Luckey, 19; and Carrington Williams, 19. The three young people were found there with multiple gunshot wounds late Friday night in a wrecked Jeep Renegade and later died.

Larry Luckey Jr. said someone knows who killed his daughter.

"Somebody is hiding them," he said Tuesday while wearing a red sweatshirt emblazoned with LaTija's name and photo. "Whoever is harboring them, they're just as guilty."

The little huddle of candles burning in front of each cross grew as more and more people joined family members at the vigil. By the time the vigil opened with a prayer, more than 50 people had gathered in the cold. Franklin, who on Saturday had nailed each cross into the ground, prayed and pleaded with the community to help them stop the violence that he said is stealing children from families.

The shooting came in the midst of one of the most violent weekends in Little Rock this year, police spokesman Lt. Michael Ford said Sunday on the scene of the fifth homicide in 53 hours. The weekend ended with five homicides and three shooting victims.

At approximately 3 a.m. Friday, 44-year-old Corey Jackson was found dead after being shot in his home at 3109 W. 17th St. Less than 12 hours later, a 20-year-old Little Rock woman was injured when she was shot in the side near the 14200 block of Taylor Loop Road.

Anderson, Luckey and Williams died Friday night after police found them with multiple gunshot wounds near West 14th Street. In a nearby yard, officers found a 17-year-old boy with multiple gunshot wounds in his legs.

A 22-year-old Little Rock woman was shot in her leg at approximately 11:25 p.m. Saturday while leaving a bar near the 3200 block of Madison Street.

And on Sunday, officers found the body of Bobby Young Jr., who had been shot and left near 7417 Loretto Lane. Ford initially estimated Young had been killed in the previous 24 hours.

On Tuesday, Franklin pleaded with anyone who might know something about the homicides to go to the police or, if they fear being identified, to go to him so he could get the information to the police.

"We need the support of our community," Franklin said. "We have to send a message to the front doors of whoever did this."

Family members in the crowd cried softly at first, holding on to one another and weeping silently. As the vigil came to a close and the crowd began to sing "Amazing Grace," the cries became louder and louder.

"She was our good person," Luckey said of his daughter. "She was happy. She was godly. I'm talking about my baby."

Anderson, who died at the scene of the crash before first responders could transfer him to a hospital, was Luckey's nephew.

"It really just hasn't hit me yet," Luckey said. "I'm burying my baby."

Karen Knight, Anderson's grandmother, said the family just hasn't come to terms with what happened to them.

"We don't know how to respond to this," she said. "We just pray. We just stay together."

Jalavante Hargo, a friend of LaTija Luckey, said her daughter was killed four years ago and that she knows the pain the family is going through.

"It never goes away," she said. "You never heal. There's going to always be a hole in their life."

Metro on 11/21/2018

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