SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. — A 45-year-old man was shot and killed on a residential street in Siloam Springs on Saturday evening, November 7, and the man police say fled the scene was arrested the next morning more than 300 miles away in St. Louis, Missouri, the Siloam Springs Police Department said in an update on Sunday. The victim has been identified as Brandon Granger, 45. The suspect, Lucas Espinosa, 32, was located and taken into custody by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department at about 8:46 a.m. on Sunday, November 8, according to the Siloam Springs police update.

Source: Siloam Springs Police Department update, via N'Cuffs

Police said the shooting happened at about 6:10 p.m. on Saturday, November 7, on South Oak Hill Street in Siloam Springs, a city in Benton County in northwest Arkansas, on the Oklahoma state line. Officers who reached the scene found a 45-year-old man who had been shot and began lifesaving measures, the department said. The man was later pronounced deceased and identified as Brandon Granger. The suspect had already fled before the first officers arrived, police said.

Source: Siloam Springs Police Department update, via N'Cuffs

The manhunt: a Kia Optima with Oklahoma plates

As Siloam Springs officers searched for the suspect on Saturday night, area television station 40/29 News (KHBS/KHOG, the ABC affiliate for northwest Arkansas) reported that Espinosa had fled the scene in a Kia Optima carrying an Oklahoma license plate, and that police were asking the public not to approach him, describing him in the manhunt phase as armed and dangerous. Siloam Springs sits directly on the Arkansas–Oklahoma border, and U.S. Highway 412 — a major east–west trucking corridor across northern Arkansas and Oklahoma — runs through the city, which gave the search an immediate multi-state dimension.

Source: 40/29 News (KHBS/KHOG)

The break came on Sunday morning in Missouri. Siloam Springs police said the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department located Espinosa and took him into custody at about 8:46 a.m. His vehicle was seized as evidence, the department said. Police have not described how he was located in St. Louis, roughly a five-hour drive northeast of Siloam Springs.

Source: Siloam Springs Police Department update, via N'Cuffs

What police have not said yet

The department's Sunday update did not announce formal charges against Espinosa, did not give a motive, and did not say whether the two men knew each other. It also did not set out the extradition process that would return him from Missouri to Benton County, Arkansas, to face the case. Espinosa is a suspect in a police investigation; any charges are allegations unless and until they are filed and proven in court. The department said the investigation is ongoing and that no further information was being released at this time.

What happens next

Espinosa remains in custody in Missouri while Arkansas authorities pursue the case. The expected next steps are the filing of formal charges in Benton County and extradition proceedings to bring him back to Arkansas — neither of which the Siloam Springs Police Department had detailed as of Sunday. The department says its investigation is ongoing. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when charges are announced or when police release further information about the shooting on South Oak Hill Street.