Three charged — including boys 14 and 15 — in Hot Springs drive-by that hit home with five children inside

HOT SPRINGS — Three people, including two teenage boys charged as adults, face felony charges in connection with an early-morning drive-by shooting that sent bullets through a Hot Springs home while five children were inside, according to documents filed Wednesday in Garland County Circuit Court.

Lucas Cole Mays, 19; Bradley Graham, 15; and Mason Burden, 14, all of the Hot Springs area, are each charged with terroristic act and unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle in the second degree, both Class B felonies punishable by five to 20 years in prison, along with first-degree criminal mischief, a Class D felony. Prosecutors also filed an enhancement against each defendant that could add up to 10 years to any sentence because the offense was allegedly committed in the presence of a child.

The charges, filed by Prosecuting Attorney Michelle C. Lawrence’s office, stem from an Aug. 13 shooting at a residence on Plateau Street. Because Graham and Burden were charged by criminal information in circuit court, both are being prosecuted as adults.

According to an affidavit sworn by a Hot Springs police detective, officers responded to the 200 block of Plateau Street around 4:08 a.m. that morning after a ShotSpotter alert. They found seven spent 9mm shell casings in the roadway and damage to the residence, with bullet holes throughout the house — including in the walls of a centrally located bathroom.

A resident told detectives the gunfire caused roughly $1,500 in damage, and that a woman and five children — ages 7, 10, 12, 14 and 17 — were inside the home during the shooting. No injuries were reported in the affidavit.

Detectives reviewed video from several nearby cameras that showed a white Jeep Gladiator in the area at 4:07 a.m. before it drove off “at a high rate of speed.” A Flock license plate camera at Malvern Avenue and Gould Street captured the Jeep — which had been reported stolen out of Saline County — heading southbound about three minutes later, the affidavit states.

The next day, the Garland County Sheriff’s Office notified the detective that deputies had made contact with the same Jeep and that Graham and Mays were in custody on theft by receiving.

In interviews summarized in the affidavit, Mays allegedly told investigators he was only the driver during the shooting and did not fire any rounds, saying Burden and Graham fired multiple shots from the passenger side of the vehicle toward the residence.

Graham allegedly admitted to firing a .22-caliber pistol and told investigators he had a “beef” with a 17-year-old who lived at the home stemming from an alleged sexual assault case. He told detectives Burden fired a 9mm M&P pistol and that Mays fired a revolver, according to the affidavit.

Burden allegedly told investigators he fired two shots from a pistol Mays was carrying before Mays grabbed the gun back and continued shooting, and that Graham fired both a .22-caliber handgun and a revolver from the back seat.

The three cases are filed separately as case Nos. CR-2026-676, CR-2026-677 and CR-2026-678. The arrest warrant affidavits were found to establish probable cause on Aug. 18.