Armand Van Tonder, 22, a male and White/Caucasian, went to the skate park along the Arkansas River in the 2800 block of River Road in North Little Rock in the early hours of July 16, 2018. When police arrived, they found him mortally wounded and another young man, 18-year-old Jacob Bynum, injured but alive. Investigators quickly said the shootings happened during a robbery, and by that evening the department was offering a $10,000 reward for information that could help catch those responsible.
Within weeks, detectives said the violence had been carried out by a group of teenagers. On August 1, police announced the arrest of 17-year-old Davion Wright. The following days brought two more arrests—15-year-old Jack Banks III and 18-year-old Isiah Gilliam—each accused in the deadly holdup at the skate park. A fourth suspect, 17-year-old Ladetrick Harris, was initially at large, but authorities later reported he had been taken into custody as well.
All four teenagers were booked on serious charges tied to the attack: capital murder, attempted capital murder, and multiple counts of aggravated robbery. Police said the juveniles would be pursued in adult court given the gravity of the crime. The arrests closed the initial manhunt but left behind the stark facts of that morning—young lives converging at a riverfront skate park and a robbery that ended with Armand Van Tonder’s death.
