Deante Smith, a 22-year-old Black male, went to a Saturday-night carnival at the Outlets of Little Rock with his family when gunfire shattered the lights and music. Around 6 p.m. on April 10, 2021, amid rides and crowds in the parking lot at 1 Bass Pro Drive, a shot struck him in the back while he was holding his one-year-old daughter. His sister dropped to the ground to cradle him as bystanders tried CPR; police soon pushed the family back as paramedics took over.
Smith, identified by police as being from Forrest City, died at the hospital the following day.
Investigators quickly focused on a 16-year-old, Keaton McGee, who had been detained at the scene that night. While being escorted for medical treatment at the Little Rock Police Department’s 12th Street substation, he escaped officers and medical staff, prompting a perimeter search with dogs and drones and a public warning that he was armed and dangerous. The parking lot where the carnival sat remained roped off in yellow tape as detectives worked the case and the department urged tips from the community.
Four days later, the manhunt ended. McGee surrendered at a MAPCO convenience store and was initially served with an escape warrant; detectives then worked overnight to secure and serve an arrest warrant for capital murder in Smith’s killing. Reports at the time noted he had also been a suspect in a separate February shooting in the Otter Creek area earlier that year. Federal and local agencies publicized the arrest as the investigation continued toward prosecution.
In the aftermath, Smith’s family described a young father devoted to his child, now haunted by the memory of a night that was supposed to be ordinary. Candles and posts marking his life appeared online as relatives called for justice and counseling for the children who watched the chaos unfold. The carnival moved on; the shock in Little Rock did not, carried forward by a case centered on a teenager, a crowded outlet-mall parking lot, and a bullet that turned a family outing into a homicide.
