Tarkio Willingham, 51, a Black male from El Dorado, Arkansas, died on March 3, 2022 after being shot the night before inside the Rainbow Food Mart at 2110 Junction City Road. Police were dispatched around 8:38 p.m. on March 2 for reports of gunfire and found Willingham near the store’s restroom with multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to the Medical Center of South Arkansas, where he succumbed to his injuries hours later.
Detectives quickly focused the investigation on two suspects.
An El Dorado woman, identified as 26-year-old Brianna Blackmon, was arrested and booked on March 3, 2022 on a first-degree murder charge; authorities also described additional counts including use of a firearm and participation in violent criminal group activity alongside drug-related offenses stemming from the arrest. A 17-year-old male, believed by investigators to be the shooter, was taken into custody as well and prosecutors moved to try him as an adult. Bond for Blackmon was reported at $500,000, while coverage at the time noted the teen faced a higher bond after his first court appearance.
Accounts published in the weeks that followed framed the killing as a targeted attack inside the small neighborhood store, sparking community attention to gun violence and the pace of court proceedings. Public summaries documenting the case continue to list Willingham’s name, age, and the store location and record that two arrests were made, with the juvenile suspect charged as an adult; no subsequent publicly available reporting was found that announced a final adjudication in either case.
