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11/29/25

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NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A 50-year-old man gunned down in the early hours of Labor Day succumbed to his injuries hours later, prompting a months-long investigation that ended with the arrest of a 14-year-old boy charged as an adult in a brazen robbery-turned-homicide.

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Robert Mathis, a Sherwood resident known in his community for his quiet demeanor and steady work as a warehouse supervisor, became the latest victim of escalating gun violence in central Arkansas when he was shot multiple times shortly after 2:55 a.m. on Sept. 1, 2025. Responding officers from the North Little Rock Police Department found Mathis slumped near the curb in the 300 block of East Bethany Road, a dimly lit commercial stretch dotted with fast-food outlets and strip malls. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors fought to stabilize him amid severe blood loss from wounds to his torso and limbs. Despite aggressive interventions, Mathis was pronounced dead around 7:15 a.m., leaving behind a wife of 25 years, two grown daughters and a network of colleagues who remembered him as a reliable family man with a passion for coaching youth baseball.

The shooting unfolded in what investigators later described as a spontaneous robbery gone fatally wrong. Mathis, who had been out celebrating the holiday weekend with friends at a nearby bar, was walking alone toward his vehicle when two assailants approached him demanding his wallet and phone. According to court affidavits, the teen suspect allegedly fired three shots in quick succession after Mathis resisted, striking him as he attempted to flee. One of the bullets severed a major artery, a detail that pathologists confirmed during autopsy.

Witness accounts pieced together a chaotic scene. A night-shift worker exiting a nearby convenience store told detectives he heard "pop-pop-pop" echoing off the buildings, followed by a man's guttural cries for help. Peering from his car, the witness saw two shadowy figures—a taller adult male and a slighter youth—bolting southbound on foot before vanishing into an alley. "It was over so fast, like a nightmare you can't wake from," the man recounted in a police interview, his voice trembling as he described dialing 911 while Mathis lay motionless, clutching his side. Another bystander, a delivery driver idling in his truck, corroborated the timeline, noting the suspects' hurried escape and discarding a dark hoodie in a dumpster blocks away—a garment later linked to the juvenile through DNA traces.

Nearly six weeks later, on Oct. 14, 2025, authorities announced the breakthrough arrest of Brentian Baker, a 14-year-old North Little Rock resident with a prior record of petty thefts and truancy. Baker, who stands at 5-foot-6 and weighs 140 pounds, was apprehended without incident during a raid at a relative's home in the city's Levy neighborhood. Prosecutors wasted no time charging him as an adult under an Arkansas statute allowing such transfers for violent felonies committed by teens 14 and older. The indictment includes one count of capital murder—carrying a potential sentence of life with parole—and one count of aggravated robbery. Baker, who turned himself in after a tip from an anonymous school counselor tipped off detectives, remains confined without bond at the Pulaski County jail, his initial court appearance set for mid-December. The second suspect, described as an 18- to 20-year-old accomplice, remains at large, with police urging tips via their anonymous line.

The case has ignited fierce debate in North Little Rock, a working-class suburb grappling with a 15% spike in violent crime this year. Community leaders, including members of the local NAACP chapter, decried the incident as a symptom of unchecked youth disenfranchisement, pointing to underfunded after-school programs and easy access to firearms. "Robbing a man for $40 doesn't make you a monster overnight, but a system that fails these kids does," said Rev. Elena Watkins, pastor at Bethany Road Baptist Church, during a vigil last month that drew over 200 mourners bearing candles and Mathis' favorite team colors—red and white for the Cardinals. Mathis' widow, tearfully addressing the crowd, called for justice tempered with mercy: "Bob wouldn't want revenge; he'd want change so no other family feels this void."

Law enforcement officials, meanwhile, hailed the arrest as a win for persistent detective work, including surveillance footage and cell tower pings that placed Baker at the scene. Yet, as Thanksgiving approached, the shooting loomed large, with residents stocking doors earlier and parents double-checking curfews. In a city where homicides have doubled since 2023, Mathis' death serves as a stark reminder of fragile holiday peace. 

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at November 29, 2025