Early Morning Shooting Leaves Springdale Man With Bullet In Knee

A 29-year-old Springdale man was shot in the right leg Saturday morning, police said.

Antonio Jimenez was shot once in his right knee and told 5NEWS on Saturday evening that doctors have not been able to remove the bullet but hope to do so soon. Jimenez said he was shot near his home on Garnett Road in Springdale.

A 911 call was placed at 1:26 a.m. from a residence on Purple Martin Drive after the caller said a woman had come to her house and asked her to report a shooting. Police responded to the address and found Jimenez with a gunshot wound and a laceration.

Jimenez told 5NEWS he was attacked by someone who punched him at least twice in the face. He told the police he was in a car near Bayyari Elementary School, which is a few blocks from his home, when three Hispanic males approached him, shot him and took his wallet.

Jimenez also told police he was shot on Sunset Avenue. He told 5NEWS that the pain and shock of the shooting has clouded his memory of the incident.

“The doctors haven’t been able to remove the bullet from my knee,” Jimenez said. “I’m in a lot of pain.”

Dwight Fulfer said he’s known Antonio Jimenez for five years. Fulfer is his neighbor and said Jimenez lives with his wife and five children.

“I was shocked,” Fulfer said. “I just couldn’t believe it because I don’t know why anybody would do anything like that to him because he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

During the course of the initial investigation, police went to Jimenez’s home on Garnett Road and found blood in the driveway, according to police. Officials said police then got permission to do a welfare check on the residence from a woman police identified as Jimenez’s wife.

Blood and broken glass was found in the residence, police said.