A 25-year-old man was killed and two others injured following a Sunday morning shooting at Regional Park, according to the Pine Bluff Police Department.
Pine Bluff police responded to a shooting at the park just after 1 a.m., according to a news release. It was reported that a group of people directed the officers to an area near the waterfront, where officers found a man lying in the road.
The man was seriously injured and pronounced dead at the scene by the Jefferson County coroner’s office, according to police. The victim’s name was not released, pending notification of next of kin. His body will be sent to the state Crime Lab for an autopsy.
This is the 14th homicide in Pine Bluff this year and second in August.
Witnesses told police a large group had gathered in the park when gunshots were fired in the group. The two other people who were wounded by gunshots suffered non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Police are investigating the shooting but had no information on a possible suspect.
Four homicides have occurred in Pine Bluff recreational areas in the last three years. On May 7, 2022, an 18-year-old was shot to death and three others were injured after 7 p.m. at Regional Park, with one man listed as a suspect. Exactly a year later, a 16-year-old was gunned down at about 1:45 a.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Jaycee Drive. Three males, two of them aged 20 and the other 16, were named suspects.
Just after midnight on June 16 of this year, a 20-year-old was killed and three others were wounded in a shooting at Saracen Landing, near Regional Park. There was no suspect information in that shooting.
The marquee at Regional Park says it closes at 9 p.m. None of Pine Bluff’s city parks are open after 10 p.m., Police Lt. David DeFoor said.
Despite the similarities in the incidents, DeFoor said, none are related.
“It’s just folks getting together and somebody starts shooting,” DeFoor said, adding he was unsure whether the victim was from Pine Bluff.
Officers will run off large crowds after closing time at parks and then go right back after answering more calls about them, DeFoor said.