Little Rock Police Nab Suspect in 2023 Slaying of Marquis Harper

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Makell Brown, 21, of Little Rock, was arrested Thursday by the Little Rock Police Department and charged with capital murder in the death of Marquis Harper, also 21, police announced. The killing occurred on July 15, 2023, in the 600 block of West 28th Street, a residential area near downtown Little Rock plagued by sporadic violence. Harper was found shot multiple times around 2:30 p.m. and pronounced dead at the scene despite lifesaving efforts by first responders. Investigators developed Brown as the primary suspect through ballistic evidence linking shell casings from the scene to a prior shooting, witness statements and surveillance video from nearby businesses, according to a police affidavit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court. Brown, who had been on the run, was apprehended without incident in the Otter Creek neighborhood southwest of Little Rock. He is being held without bond at the Pulaski County jail, with an initial court appearance scheduled for next week. The homicide marked the 32nd of 2023 in Little Rock, a year that saw the city grapple with a surge in gun-related deaths amid post-pandemic tensions. Harper, a West Little Rock High School graduate and father of two, was remembered by family as a devoted young man working in construction. "He didn't deserve this," Harper's mother, Tanisha Harper, told KATV at the time, echoing community calls for justice in a city where unsolved murders remain a sore point. Little Rock's homicide rate has fluctuated, dropping to 28 in 2025 per preliminary police data, but advocates like the Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition point to systemic issues including poverty and limited youth programs in high-crime zip codes like 72206. Brown's arrest brings closure to one case amid 15 cold homicides from 2023 still under investigation by the LRPD's Major Crimes Unit.