On the night of October 26, 2008, around 9:00 PM outside Arkansas Hall at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, three young men were shot when a vehicle drove up and fired multiple rounds. Nineteen-year-old Chavares Block, a Black sophomore studying pre-engineering from Dermott, and 18-year-old Ryan Henderson, a freshman from Little Rock, were fatally wounded. A third person, 19-year-old Martrevis Norman, not a student, survived with a gunshot wound to his leg.

Witnesses and campus responders described chaos as students and resident advisors tried to help before paramedics arrived. The shooting was tied to an earlier dispute and the victims were described as innocent bystanders. Four nonstudent suspects — 19-year-old Kawin Brockton, 19-year-old Kelsey Perry, 20-year-old Mario Tony, and 20-year-old Brandon Wade — were arrested and charged, and Kelsey Perry later pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and received a 40-year prison sentence.

A memorial was established on campus for the two slain students.