JONESBORO — A West Memphis man faces charges of aggravated assault and possession of a handgun on a school campus after police say he fired several shots near an Arkansas State University residence hall Saturday morning.
Brice Demand Parker, 20, was charged with the felonies in Craighead County District Court on Monday afternoon. Judge Keith Blackman set Parker's bond at $25,000 and issued a no-contact order that prohibits him from being on the ASU campus.
Parker remains in the Craighead County jail in Jonesboro. He is scheduled for arraignment in Craighead County Circuit Court on March 31.
Parker is accused of firing several rounds from a 9mm handgun in the parking lot of the NorthPark Quads, a residence hall on the northern side of the campus.
Alfred Louis, 20, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., an offensive lineman with the ASU football team, was grazed in the lower left leg by either a bullet fragment or a chip of gravel. He was treated and released from a Jonesboro hospital.
Parker, who is not an ASU student, went to the ASU Campus Police Department at 9 p.m.Monday and surrendered, said Police Chief James Chapman.
Officers had questioned Parker's brother about his whereabouts earlier that day after receiving tips from witnesses who said Parker fired the shots, Chapman said.
According to police, the shooting happened after an altercation at a party held Friday night at the U.S. National Guard Armory on the ASU campus.
Witnesses incorrectly said the party was sponsored by the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Police later said it was hosted by an individual who was not associated with ASU.
"We don't know who had it, yet," Chapman said. "We're working on it. Apparently, everybody was invited to it."
Representatives of the armory would not say who held the party.
The party ended at about 1:45 a.m.
Shortly before 2 a.m., two cars entered the parking lot between Buildings One and Two at the NorthPark Quads, carrying partygoers, including Louis.
The cars were followed by a white Ford Crown Victoria with large chrome wheels which, police said, was driven by Parker.
"He [Parker] got out of thecar and started shooting," Chapman said.
He didn't say what the argument at the armory was over.
Police recovered several 9mm shells on the parking lot at two locations, Chapman said. No one else was injured, and no cars or buildings were hit, he said.
Louis was not an intended target of the gunshots, the police chief said.
"From evidence and facts that have been presented to me, I can't say there was an intended victim," Chapman said.
Saturday's shooting caused ASU administrators to examine safety issues on campus in light of the fatal shootings earlier this month at Northern Illinois University and the April 2007 killing of 32 at Virginia Tech.
"Just because we have an arrest doesn't mean we won't take a closer look at things," said Rick Stripling, ASU vice chancellor of student affairs.
"We'll look at how effective we are in communication and expediting information to residents when something like this happens," he said. "We'll look at the confines of the campus to see if the physical surroundings need to be improved to help prevent this."
About 11,000 students attend ASU with 2,500 living on campus. NorthPark Quads, which was built in 2006 and features five residential buildings, is home to 856 students.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 02/27/2008