Damon Wilkins, a 38-year-old Black male, was shot multiple times on the night of September 3, 2016, outside a home near Fairfield Drive and Chicot Road in southwest Little Rock. Police had first been called to 7525 Fairfield Road around 8 p.m. for a domestic disturbance and returned about thirty minutes later for the shooting. He was taken to a hospital and died the next morning.
According to reporting and later court records, Wilkins had been living with his fiancée, Chamika Rogers, and her four children; two of the children witnessed the killing. Neighbors and family described a pair of confrontations that evening, with men returning to the house before gunfire erupted in the street. Witness testimony recounted that a man arrived in a gray Cadillac, tossed a gun to another man, and the two advanced on Wilkins as he apologized and tried to calm things down.
Detectives quickly developed suspects. Within hours—around 2 a.m. on Sunday—Little Rock police arrested Donald Brown, 40, on a first-degree murder charge, and said they were still seeking a second suspect seen fleeing in a gray Cadillac. Early reports tied the confrontation to a dispute involving a relative, and Rogers told reporters her children saw the shooting. The case moved forward against Brown, while investigators continued looking for the second participant described by witnesses.
In subsequent proceedings, a Pulaski County jury convicted Donald Lee Brown of second-degree murder for the killing of Wilkins. The jury found that he used a firearm and that the crime occurred in the presence of a child, enhancing the sentence to a total of thirty years’ imprisonment. Appellate records summarize the evening’s events, including the earlier disturbance, the return of the group, the arrival of the gray Cadillac, and the moment witnesses saw a gun handed to Brown before shots were fired. The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction on January 23, 2019.
