Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – A man has been arrested in connection with a Christmas Eve shooting that left one individual dead.
| READ MORE: JPD called to shooting, seeking person of interest
Mario Jashon Stafford, 29, was arrested in connection with the shooting after an investigation by officers. He is being held by the Craighead County Sheriff’s Department for homicide/murder in the first degree and a parole violation. His bond has been set at $1 million.
“A suspect developed in this and the individual was subsequently taken into custody,” said Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott. “We feel that there’s maybe some additional person or persons involved. It is still currently an open and ongoing investigation.”
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Dec. 24, Jonesboro police responded in reference to shots fired in the 300 block of State Street. According to Officer Greg Trout, when he arrived on the scene, he found 58-year-old Michael Tatum lying on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound.
“He was verbal and in obvious pain, saying that he could not breathe,” said Trout in the incident report. The gunshot was on the left side of Tatum’s abdomen. Another wound was found on the right side of the victim’s body near his shoulder.
Trout applied chest seals to the wounds before Tatum was transported to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 4:12 a.m.
According to the police report, the incident is listed as a residential burglary as Stafford entered Tatum’s residence and shot him. This is not Stafford’s first charge of this kind; he pleaded not guilty to capital murder and aggravated residential burglary for a 2015 incident, which left a woman dead. The charges were eventually dropped as the surviving witnesses could not identify Stafford.
As the Christmas Eve shooting is an ongoing investigation anyone with information related to this incident can reach out to the Jonesboro Police Department’s tip line online or by calling (870) 935-5657.
“If anybody out there has any information on that they can certainly reach out to us on our tip line, that would be fantastic,” said Elliott. “We solve a lot of cases where people step up and do the right thing. If you see something, say something.”
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include remarks from Police Chief Rick Elliott.
