Editor’s note: This story contains language and descriptions that may be disturbing to some readers.
A man who shot and killed his wife and then killed himself had been ordered to have no contact with his wife because he had previously threatened her and her daughter with a gun, according to court documents.
At 8:30 on the morning of June 17, officers went to Cherry Street Liquor because they had received a report that someone had been shot inside a black Cadillac that was parked in front of the business.
When police arrived, they found Mary Sims, 44, slumped over in the passenger seat with a gunshot wound to her head, according to Pine Bluff police. Her 8-year-old son who had been in the car when the shooting occurred stood nearby. He was quickly escorted away.
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One witness was Terral Wise, who said he and Gregory Christopher Sr., 58, Sims’ husband, were working inside the liquor store when Christopher went outside with Sims. Shortly after, Wise said, the boy came rushing into the store shouting “he shot my momma.”
Wise told police Christopher was the shooter and that Christopher had driven away in a gray Jeep Cherokee. Another witness corroborated what Wise had told police, telling them Christopher had driven east on 26th Avenue.
Traffic cameras showed the SUV entering Regional Park. Jefferson County sheriff’s office deputies and Pine Bluff police went to the park where they found the SUV on the one-way section of Beach Front Drive. They drew their weapons and approached the vehicle where they found Christopher dead in the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound to his temple, police reported. He was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m., an hour and 15 minutes after Sims was pronounced dead.
This was not the first time that Christopher had pointed a gun at his wife, according to police and court records.
On Nov. 21, 2021, Pine Bluff Police Officer Sky Hood went to 811 W. 22nd Ave. because of a domestic disturbance. When Hood arrived, she met Sims, who said that when she went to the residence to get her things, she and Christopher got into an altercation. The two had only been married for two weeks when this occurred, according to a marriage listing published by The Commercial.
“Ms. Sims advised (Officer) Hood that during the altercation, Mr. Christopher pulled a silver Bersa handgun on her and her daughter who was identified as Ms. Emani Kirksey,” according to a police description of the incident. “Ms. Sims stated Mr. Christopher pointed the silver Bersa handgun, cocked the weapon and said ‘B***h, get out of my house.'” She said also that he had hit her in the face.
At that point, Pine Bluff Detective Enrique Soto arrived and took over the investigation. Soto recorded testimony from the two women who said Christopher was upset with Sims because he believed she was cheating on him and that he had started throwing her belongings outside. He left the residence for awhile, then returned and became angry when he found Sims gathering her things so she could leave.
Christopher was charged with two counts of aggravated assault. His case would rock along for almost two full years, but during that time, according to various court documents that he signed, he was barred from having contact with either Sims or Kirksey.
The two women, however, eventually softened on their reaction to the incident.
In mid-2023, while Christopher was awaiting trial, first Sims and then Kirksey signed identical affidavits saying they didn’t want to pursue a prosecution against Christopher. In the document, they said they were the alleged victims in the case, that they did not fear for their safety, that they wanted to continue their relationship with Christopher, that the gun incident was “isolated,” that they did “not expect any future incidents” and, finally, that they did not wish to pursue the criminal case against Christopher.
Those documents likely paved the way for Christopher to take a plea deal with prosecutors. His plea agreement, dated Aug. 28, 2023, showed that the charges against him were dropped to assault from aggravated assault and he was given two 12-month probationary sentences to run concurrently. He apparently served no time for the offenses.
In the presentencing document, there were a variety of stipulations that Christopher was supposed to follow in order to be in compliance with his probation. One of them was that he was to have no contact with either of the women.
The same was true for the sentencing document, filed on Oct. 4, 2023, in which he agreed not to have contact with them.
Prosecuting Attorney Kyle Hunter said putting protective orders in place to keep individuals apart presents difficult circumstances to weigh.
“We see these all the time in domestic violence situations,” Hunter said, explaining that the individuals involved in such cases often cool off and decide the protective order isn’t necessary and, ultimately, decline to pursue prosecution.
“Sometimes we decide to go forward with the case anyway,” he said. “Sometimes we back off on the conditions. And sometimes we don’t back off.”
In the case of Christopher and Sims, Hunter recalled that Sims was not cooperative when it came to working with the prosecution on the case.
“They may have been back to living together at this point,” Hunter said. “Unless there’s a problem and either the probation officer finds out or law enforcement finds out that someone’s not in compliance, we don’t find out. From what we understand, she drove to his place of employment so it’s unclear what their relationship was at the time.”
As for the 8-year-old boy, who was Christopher’s stepson, he has been placed with his biological father, Hunter said. “Hopefully, that situation will allow him to recover from this,” Hunter said. “I’m not so sure one of the bullets Christopher fired wasn’t meant for the boy. But the father’s family has him now.”