in a follow-up to the story we first brought you Sunday afternoon, the Arkansas State Police have been called in to aid in the investigation in the murder case involving Mark Anthony Gonzalez, a 22-year-old resident of Clarksville.
According to a probable cause affidavit released by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Gonzalez claims the victim, 49-year-old Joseph David Middleton, came at him with an axe.
There were apparently two witnesses in the room at the time of the shooting, and one of those witnesses disputed seeing an axe during the incident.
Gonzalez, who had been in trouble for domestic battery related charges in the past and it had two orders of protection against him by the same woman, was taken to the Johnson
County Detention Center on the charge of murder. He was also charged with one count of delivery of a controlled substance because he had apparently bought drugs from a confidential informant earlier in the year.
Police say Gonzalez shot Middleton with a handgun.
Middleton is not unknown to local ad regional law enforcement officials. According to documentation from Arkansas Court Connect, Middleton entered a guilty plea to being a felon in possession of a handgun back in 2021 and was given a 72-month sentence in the Department of Community Corrections at that time. The same crime in 2000 resulted in a revocation of a suspended sentence and 24 months in prison as well.
Prior to those incidents he had been arrested for commercial burglary, breaking and,or entering, and other criminal charges as well, Since his last prison stint he has been arrested for theft of property and domestic battery on separate occasions.
Accoiirding to a press release, the Arkansas State Police have taken the lead role in the investigation at the behest of the Johnson County Sheriff's Office.
Gonzalez remains behind bars in the Johnson County Detention Center on a $105,000 bond that was set this morning for him at a 9:00 a.m. court session.
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