Willie Baines was 30 when he was fatally shot on February 18, 2017, at about 4 a.m. He was seated in the driver’s seat of a friend’s car near 24th Avenue and Poplar Street in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, when he was struck in the back of the head by a single bullet. Family members reported the close-range wound; officers found Baines with a gunshot to the head and he was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center and later transferred to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, where he died that evening.

Investigators recovered evidence that roughly 30 to 31 rounds had been fired into the vehicle, though only one round struck Baines. The person who was with Baines at the time was questioned and released without charges. Family members have expressed frustration over the lack of progress; no arrests or publicly identified suspects have been announced and the case remains an active investigation.

If anyone was near 24th Avenue and Poplar Street in Pine Bluff the morning of February 18, 2017, or has information about the shooting, please contact the Pine Bluff Police Department.