FORT SMITH (KFSM) – An arraignment hearing has been set for the suspect in a Fort Smith shooting that occurred Wednesday evening (July 22).
Dwight Neal Hawley, 53, will be arraigned July 29, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. He faces charges of first degree murder degree, felon in possession of a firearm, and terroristic threatening in the first degree.
Hawley was booked Thursday morning (July 23) after Fort Smith police responded to a shooting near South 4th Street and I Street, according to a probable cause affidavit from the Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney office.
Officers found Carlos Mejia, 20, dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to his face. Police were alerted by Mejia’s girlfriend after she said Mejia had been shot at a homeless camp near the river.
Hawley was found near the scene and confessed to shooting Mejia with a .20 gauge shotgun that was in nearby bushes.
Mejia’s girlfriend told officers she had received death threats from Hawley after the shooting, and so she fled the scene.
Hawley is being held without bond at the Sebastian County Detention Center.
