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A Hot Springs parolee who shot out the windows of four occupied vehicles with an air rifle over an extended distance along Central Avenue in 2024 was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges.

Jason Derek Lynch, 42, who has remained in custody since his arrest Oct. 16, 2024, pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to four felony counts of committing a terroristic act, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with the last 10 years suspended, while an additional felony count of fleeing was withdrawn.

“The fleeing, fortunately, was short,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Caitlin Bornhoft told The Sentinel-Record Tuesday, noting, “He sped in excess of the speed limit, but was not being reckless.” Four additional misdemeanor counts of first-degree criminal mischief filed in the case were also withdrawn as part of the plea agreement.

Lynch is classified as a habitual offender. According to court records, he was convicted on Feb. 17, 2009, of possession of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to three years’ probation; on Sept. 2, 2009, of two counts of robbery, theft by receiving and breaking or entering and sentenced to 10 years in prison; on Nov. 29, 2011, of theft by receiving and fraudulent use of a credit card and sentenced to three years in prison; and on Dec. 3, 2021, of aggravated assault on a family or household member and terroristic threatening and sentenced to seven years in prison.

One of the four reported victims in the incident told the newspaper the day after the shootings he was visiting Hot Springs from Texas and was so traumatized by the experience he was going to cut short his vacation.

The victim said he didn’t believe the weapon used was only an air rifle firing BBs and felt it was a firearm. “I was just driving and he started shooting,” the man said. “Anything could have happened. I could have had my kids with me. It was very scary.”

According to the probable cause affidavit, on Oct. 16, 2024, shortly after 12:30 p.m., Hot Springs police responded to Walmart, 4019 Central Ave., regarding a man driving a blue Chevrolet pickup truck who had fired a gun and shattered the rear window of an occupied SUV.

While en route, dispatchers advised there were additional incidents along Central Avenue of vehicles being struck and windows shattered. One caller noted the suspect vehicle was traveling north on Central and had turned onto Crestwood Avenue.

Sgt. Phillip De Foor spotted a vehicle matching the description headed north on Third Street approaching Greenwood Avenue. The vehicle, a blue Chevrolet Silverado pickup, being driven by a man later identified as Lynch, turned onto Greenwood where De Foor attempted to make a traffic stop.

Lynch refused to stop and turned north onto Linwood Avenue as De Foor activated his siren. Lynch “accelerated away” and De Foor noted the truck was going 42 mph in a 30 mph zone. The truck turned onto Hobson Avenue and then Second Street before finally pulling into the parking lot of the Probation and Parole Office at Second and East Grand.

Lynch was taken into custody and inside the vehicle officers saw two air rifles, one of which was in the front seat, and there were also loose BBs found on the driver’s seat. Meanwhile, officers responded to the separate scenes of the four shootings and spoke to each of the four victims. No injuries were reported in the incidents.

The first scene was at the Walmart and the victim said he was inside his Cadillac Escalade when a blue pickup pulled behind him and “began driving erratically, squealing its tires and revving its engine.”

The truck followed the man through the parking lot and the victim saw the driver “lean out the window” holding “what appeared to be a rifle” with both hands and pointing it at the victim’s vehicle. The man said he then heard a gunshot so he drove away and the truck fled the scene. He noted the back glass of his Escalade was damaged.

The second victim told police she was traveling north in the 3000 block of Central in her Honda CRV when she heard her back glass shatter. She pulled into the lot of Sonic at 3000 Central, and while exiting her vehicle she says she saw an older model two-door blue truck “slam on their brakes” before coming to a stop at the red light in the 2700 block of Central.

She said she saw a man with “what looked to be a rifle” exit his vehicle and yell at another motorist to “Get the (expletive) out of my way or I’ll shoot you!” The blue truck then fled north on Central.

The third victim told police she was traveling north in the 2900 block of Central entering the turn lane when the back glass of her vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee, shattered. She said the only vehicle behind her was an older blue pickup.

The fourth victim told police he was driving north on Central near its intersection with Golf Links Road when he heard “a loud crash” and noted the right rear window of his Chevy pickup was shattered. He said he saw an older model Chevy pickup driving next to him in the outside lane.

He said he saw the driver’s window of the other truck was “all the way down” and the black barrel of a rifle was sticking out the window. He said he “didn’t see anything come out of the barrel” but saw glass “coming out of other vehicles the truck was passing.” Officers estimated the damage to each of the victims’ vehicles was less than $1,000.

Three of the victims were shown a photo of Lynch’s truck and all three positively identified it as the vehicle they had seen.

Officers also observed traffic camera footage in front of Oaklawn, 2705 Central, which at 12:33 p.m. showed Lynch’s vehicle behind the second victim’s CRV with Lynch “holding what appeared to be a rifle outside the driver’s window.”

After his arrest, Lynch told police, “he knew he was going to jail for shooting out windows with a BB gun.”

Lynch, who was on parole at the time, was held on zero bond and pleaded not guilty to the charges on Feb. 4, 2025, and was initially set to stand trial on June 23, 2025. On May 15, 2025, his attorney filed a motion for a mental evaluation which postponed further proceedings. He was ruled fit to proceed on Sept. 2, 2025, and the case was set for trial on Oct. 27, 2025.

The case was continued several times and finally set for trial again on Sept. 21 of this year, but during a pretrial hearing on Tuesday Lynch opted to plead guilty to the terroristic act charges.