Three arrested, including 14-year-old boy, after shooting injures 9-year-old girl in Hope, Arkansas

Hope police arrested three people after a shooting on Sunday afternoon, November 1, in Hope, Arkansas, that injured a 9-year-old girl, according to Southwest Arkansas Radio. Officers were dispatched at about 12:56 p.m. after a report of a shooting in the 300 block of East 14th Street, according to Southwest Arkansas Radio and the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, which cited a post on the Hope Police Department’s Facebook page.

Officers later found a 9-year-old girl with a gunshot wound at a residence in the 400 block of East 14th Street, Southwest Arkansas Radio reported. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that she was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to another medical facility for care. KSLA reported that she was hospitalized.

Investigators determined that people in a vehicle exchanged gunfire with people in the yard of a residence. KSLA reported that investigators said people in the vehicle shot at people in a front yard. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that the exchange involved a car and a yard of a home in the 300 block. The sources differ on the block where the yard was located, and each is attributed here as reported.

The three people arrested were Angel Romero, 18, and Caden Brown, 20, both of Hope, and a 14-year-old boy. According to Southwest Arkansas Radio, Romero was charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle. Brown was charged with first-degree battery and a terroristic act, the same charges listed for the 14-year-old boy. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported the same charges, citing the police post.

KSLA reported that the 9-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet and was not involved in the shooting, according to investigators. Southwest Arkansas Radio described her injury as a stray bullet wound, while the Arkansas Democrat Gazette described it as a gunshot wound. A girl who was not part of the exchange of gunfire was struck, a circumstance that calls for protecting the vulnerable (Psalm 82:3).

Southwest Arkansas Radio reported that police said additional arrests and charges may follow.