Joshua Backus, 39, a Black man from Little Rock, was shot on the evening of April 5, 2018, after police were called just before 8:30 p.m. to the area of 53rd Street and 5301 Mabelvale Pike. Officers found him unresponsive in the parking lot of a nearby business with multiple gunshot wounds; he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. The death was recorded that night as the city’s 13th homicide of the year.

Initial reports after the shooting gave few public details beyond the location, time, and Backus’s condition at the scene. Detectives later developed a suspect, and on July 15, 2019, 25-year-old Darrius Holmes, who was already in the Pulaski County Jail on an unrelated matter, was served with warrants and arrested on charges that included capital murder and possession of firearms by certain persons in connection with the killing on Mabelvale Pike around 8:25 p.m.

No subsequent court disposition is detailed in available coverage. If anyone knew Joshua or has information about the shooting, please come forward to help clarify what happened.