Neighbors recall slain Little Rock couple; police details scant after two bodies found after church by teen

Neighbors of a man and woman found shot to death in their home Sunday afternoon said they were a quiet, hardworking couple who never fought.

William and Sonia Ann Gray had lived in the yellow brick house at the top of a hill on Westwood Avenue for more than eight years, neighbor Kirby Smith said. They went to church every Sunday, where William Gray was a deacon, and they were happy, he said.

But when their 14-year-old son returned home from church Sunday, he found his mother and stepfather on the floor dead from gunshot wounds, according to a news release from the Little Rock Police Department.

In his rush to run away, the teenager forgot to open the glass door to the home and burst through it, cutting himself so deeply he had to be taken to the hospital, department spokesman officer Steve Moore said. The teenager has been placed with his aunt.

Both deaths are being investigated as homicides, Moore said, though little information about what happened in the house Sunday has been released.

Smith said he met William Gray right after Gray moved to the neighborhood, just across the street and two houses down from him. One of their neighbors had go-carts, Smith said, and the men began building and racing go-carts together. Soon, Smith said he and Gray became close friends.

"He was a worker," Smith said. "He had three jobs."

Smith had worked for the Central Arkansas Community Correction Center and Little Rock Area Parole Office in many capacities since 2005, according to a news release from the center's director, Kevin Murphy. Smith said Gray was also a security guard for CVS and ran his own lawn-mowing business.

"He'd come home from work and get right on his mower," Smith said.

Smith said he didn't know Sonia Ann Gray as well. He'd seen her a few times and she always waved but "she was more quiet," he said.

Smith said as soon as news of the Grays' deaths reached them, dozens of church members filled the street.

"He was very well-respected in the church," Smith said. "You could tell that immediately."

Karen Atchley, who lives next door to the Grays, said she had never heard the couple fight -- until Sunday.

"I was studying and you could hear them arguing and it was loud," she said.

Atchley said she couldn't make out what the two were saying, but that she considered calling the police during the argument that lasted approximately 15 minutes. She decided against calling, but not too long after, the police arrived anyway.

"I didn't know them very well," Atchley said. "But they were good neighbors."

Wanda Boggs, who moved to the neighborhood less than a year ago, said she had seen the teenager playing basketball in the sunny front yard from time to time, but she'd never met the couple.

As a teacher, Atchley said she was concerned about what happened and what the teenager might be going through.

"I sat my students down today and told them they could come to me with anything," she said. "Teachers need to make sure they use their potential for change with a child. Don't dismiss that."

Smith said he does not know what happened in the house that day, but he knows how he wants to remember the Grays.

"They were my neighbors, that's how I'll remember them," Smith said. "His number is in my phone and I'm not going to delete it because he is my friend. You have friends for life. He's always going to be a friend to me."

Metro on 09/20/2018

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