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Brian Clapper

A man from Bentonville, Arkansas has been charged with second-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action in connection to a deadly shooting Friday (09-23-11) night near Washburn.
According to the probable cause statement used as the basis for the charges, Brian Clapper, 31, was helping a friend, Karis Cunigan, move some things from a storage facility when the shooting happened.Sergeant Jeffery Berryhill writes, Cunigan and thirty four year-old John Bevill, of Washburn, had been in a relationship that ended three months ago and Cunigan was transferring some of her belonging from Bevill’s house to the storage facility and her new home in Bentonville.
Around 9 p.m. Cunigan and Clapper were loading things from the storage unit when Bevill and a friend of his, Kendrick Long, 22, of Rogers, Arkansas, drove past the facility and then circled back and blocked Clapper’s truck with the Bevill’s vehicle.
Bevill then allegedly got out of his vehicle, grabbed Cunigan by the neck and held a knife to her throat.  Court documents say Clapper reached in his truck, grabbed a shotgun and told Bevill to let go of Cunigan and drop the knife or he would shoot him.
After refusing to let Cunigan go, Clapper fired one round that hit Bevill in the arm.  Once Cuningan was able to break free it is alleged that Clapper fired another round that struck Bevill in the groin and that he turned around and fired two shots at Long that hit him in the arm and elbow.
Clapper, who is also facing charges of first-degree assault with a firearm, is being held in the McDonald County jail on a $50,000 cash only bond.

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