On a Thursday evening in Blytheville, Arkansas, the life of Jonathan Wayne Mitchell, a 49-year-old Black man, was ended by gunfire. The shooting occurred on February 23, 2023, in the 1300 block of Sarah Street, where police responded to a call about shots being fired.
When officers arrived, they discovered Mitchell suffering from apparent gunshot wounds to his groin area. Witnesses at the scene identified him and shared that he was known to sell liquor from his vehicle.
Emergency medical services transported Mitchell to a hospital, and he was later transferred to a second hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries and died.
The investigation moved quickly, and the Blytheville Police Department identified a suspect. The following day, on February 24, 2023, authorities arrested 32-year-old Antonio Randy Harris of Blytheville. During questioning, when police asked Harris how many shots he had heard, he reportedly began to answer, “I sho-,” before correcting himself and stating he heard “4, 5, or 6 shots.”
Harris was initially charged with first-degree murder. The case concluded with a negotiated plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. An additional charge for possessing firearms by certain persons was nolle prossed, or dropped by the prosecutor. On September 15, 2023, Second Judicial Circuit Judge Charles Mooney, Jr., sentenced Antonio Harris to 120 months, or 10 years, in the Arkansas Department of Corrections, closing the case.
