A Pine Bluff woman was shot to death and another woman arrested in the shooting at the Central Moloney components plant at Jefferson Industrial Park at approximately 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Latange Long, 34, was pronounced dead at 10:58 a.m., according to Jefferson County Coroner Chad Kelley.
The suspect has been identified as 49-year-old Lillie Foots-Wilson, who was taken to the Pine Bluff Police Department for questioning after being taken into custody without incident.
“An employee-on-employee incident occurred at our components plant this morning that involved a gun,” Chris Hart, Central Moloney’s vice president for personnel and community relations, said.
Foots-Wilson is currently being held at the Jefferson County Detention Center on probable cause of first degree murder pending an expected court appearance in Jefferson County District Court.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Both women worked as press operators in the components division of Central Moloney, Hart said.
“They worked in the same general area of the plant. The deceased has been with the company for eight years and the suspect has been here longer than that,” Hart said.
Police haven’t released a possible motive for the shooting.
“There was an altercation between the two of them this morning which resulted in a death,” Hart said.
Kelley said the cause of death was apparent gunshot wounds to the upper body and said Long’s body was released to the State Medical Examiner’s Office at Little Rock for an autopsy.
A report from Sgt. Derric Neal, who was the first officer on the scene, said he found Long face down “in a pool of blood unresponsive. Paramedics arrived along with first responders and advised they had no vital signs.”
Neal said a manager at the plant approached him holding the weapon apparently used in the shooting and he told the manager to put the gun down on the ground near shell casings which were present at the scene until detectives arrived.
The report does not indicate the type of weapon recovered inside the plant.
Wilson was reportedly secured in a room at the plant until officers arrived, Neal said in his report, and Officer Brandy Ashcraft reported that she and Officer April Tirado entered an office and handcuffed Wilson. Tirado then transported her to the Detective Division Office.
Hart said that the first shift of 75 employees on the job when the incident happened were sent home with pay following interviews with police officers.
“We didn’t even ask them to clock out,” Hart said. “After they finished speaking with the police we let them go home. We have also cancelled second shift because we don’t need to worry about building components right now. There is no way to make this better but we can try to make it less complicated for our folks.”
Signs outside the plant indicate that weapons aren’t allowed at the facility.
Hart said that there were no immediate plans for additional security measures in the wake of the shooting.
“What can we do?” Hart asked. “These were two active employees, neither of whom were under any suspicion of wrong-doing or under any disciplinary actions. I don’t know what we could do and should do as far as security goes.”
Hart said that Central Moloney has several volunteer chaplains on site available to speak with employees in need of counseling.
“They can talk if they need to,” Hart said. “We will double up on our coverage to provide counseling if we need to.”
The slaying was the 14th of the year in Jefferson County and the 13th inside the Pine Bluff city limits.
At the plant Monday morning, two police cars with blue lights flashing were in front of the building on Jefferson Parkway, while a third was directly in front of the employee parking lot on the building’s side.
Small groups of employees were across the street filling out witness statements for detectives while officers stood by to see that they were not interrupted.
Prosecuting Attorney S. Kyle Hunter and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Wayne Juneau were on the scene for a short time, as was Pine Bluff Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones.
Police Lt. JoAnn Bates said Monday afternoon that the shooting is still under investigation by detectives.