GENTRY — Residents were shocked Sunday to learn that a Gentry man was shot to death early that morning in his home on the east edge of the city.

Yellow police tape was strung in front of a single story house at 19147 Arkansas Highway 12 early on Sunday morning. Patrol cars and unmarked Sheriff’s Office vehicles lined the driveway and remained there throughout the day.

Evan R. and Susan Fleck are listed on county property records as owners of the home.

Sgt. Brandon Davis, a detective with the Sheriff’s Office’s criminal investigation division, said late Sunday afternoon he and other detectives had been collecting evidence all day at the house and property.

Davis said he was called about the shooting between 5 and 6 a.m.

Authorities believe Susan Fleck killed her husband Sunday, but Benton County Sheriff Kelly Cradduck did not reveal any motive for the shooting at the Monday morning news conference.

“We have a suspect motive,” Cradduck said, but he declined to comment further.

Cradduck announced at the Monday conference that Evan Fleck, 34, of Gentry, was apparently shot and killed by his wife, and that Susan Fleck, 32, is being held in the Benton County Jail awaiting a bond hearing. The Sheriff’s Office has obtained a warrant for her arrest for capital murder, Cradduck said.

Benton County Central Communications received a call at 4:02 a.m. Sunday about the shooting, Cradduck said. Gentry police responded to the home and later requested the Benton County Sheriff’s Office continue the investigation. Sheriff’s Office detectives then responded to the scene.

Evan Fleck appears to have died from a gunshot wound to the head, Cradduck said. The “lone suspect in the shooting” was later determined to be Susan Fleck, he said.

Cradduck said a handgun was used in the shooting but declined to release the make or caliber.

Susan Fleck was arrested at 7:02 a.m. Sunday at a convenience store in Kansas, Okla. She was later booked into the Delaware County Jail in Jay,Okla. Susan Fleck waived extradition and Benton County Sheriff’s Office deputies went to Oklahoma and brought her back to Benton County on Monday.

Sheriff’s Office detectives spoke with Susan Fleck, but “she is not being overly cooperative,” Cradduck said.

Evan Fleck filed for divorce on Feb. 19, according to court documents. The divorce document states the two married on July 13, 1997, and separated on Jan. 25. Evan Fleck sought the divorce on the grounds of “general indignities.” Susan Fleck had not filed a response to the divorce request.

According to the divorce document, they have four children.

The children, who range in age from 7 to 15, were at the house at the time of the shooting, but authorities do not believe they witnessed the crime, Cradduck said. Gentry police found the children alone in the home, according to a news release from the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. They since have been reunited with other family members, Cradduck said.

According to Gentry Police Chief Keith Smith, the last shooting homicide in the city was prior to his coming to Gentry in May of 1995. He said he remembered a shooting in Gentry which occurred in about 1994.

Tracy Neal, Randy Moll and Kayla Paine contributed to this article.

News, Pages 1 on 03/06/2013