Prosecutors won’t file charges in fatal shooting in Springfield that witness had called racially motivated
No charges will be filed in connection with a November 2014 fatal shooting of a black man in north Springfield that happened after an argument over a rental property. A second black man who was shot but survived had alleged the shooting was racially motivated, but the Greene County prosecutor’s office looked at evidence and decided that was not the case.
That office issued a memo to police Friday that said there “is no question that Alex Gipson was shot multiple times and died as a result of his injuries” and “no doubt that the gunshot wounds were inflicted by Mark Faegre and Ryan Culbertson-Faegre.” But a review of evidence led that office to believe the shooting was justified under Missouri’s self-defense law.
Those who had encountered the two men who were shot at the apartment were white.
“In this case, the witness statements consistently indicate that Mr. Gipson was the initial aggressor and Mr. Faegre and Mr. Culbertson-Faegre did not draw their weapons until after Mr. Gipson confronted them with his weapon drawn,” Prosecutor Dan Patterson wrote in the memo. “Taken together, the witness statements and physical evidence also indicate that Mr. Gipson fired his weapon first and that Mr. Faegre and Mr. Culbertson-Faegre fired their weapons in self-defense.”
Patterson said the altercation began when Alvaretta May, the mother of Gipson’s girlfriend, signed an agreement on Nov. 19 to rent Apartment #1 at 825 N. Grant, which was owned by Mark Faegre. The rental agreement said no one other than May could occupy the premises without prior consent of management.
From there, Patterson established the following narrative:
• Later on Nov. 19, May left the property for a doctor’s appointment, leaving behind Gipson, Gipson’s girlfriend, their child, and Gipson’s uncle Randy Chalk, the black man who was shot and raised issues of race in an interview with the News-Leader. Faegre, who was at the house to “bug bomb” a different unit, began interacting with the group in Apartment #1. He requested some of his employees, including Ryan Culbertson-Faegre and Cody Works, come to the property.
• A heated exchange developed between the parties. Faegre wanted the Apartment #1 group to leave because of fumes associated with the bug bombing, and because they didn’t have the authority to be present under the lease. The group objected, saying they didn’t want to take Gipson’s young child outside because she wasn’t dressed for the cold, and that they wanted to wait for May because she had a vehicle.
• May, who was still off premises, was called by a man believed to be Faegre. She told him the people in Apartment #1 were just helping her move in, not living there.
• Back at the house, there was a physical altercation between Gipson, Faegre and Culbertson-Faegre on the porch of the house. Gipson then walked off the porch and was believed to be leaving, but apparently circled the building and re-entered Apartment #1 through the back door.
In interviews with police, different witnesses described different details regarding the exact moments shots were fired, in part because the porch on which the altercation took place partially wraps around the house, obscuring some the action from those present. Culbertson-Faegre and Faegre, speaking to police through attorneys, said they only pulled their guns in response to seeing Gipson re-emerge on the porch with a weapon that he had apparently grabbed from the apartment, and that he fired first, according to Patterson.
Chalk said he didn’t know who shot him but also said Gipson never had a gun, according to Patterson. Gipson’s girlfriend, who police say initially lied about her name, originally said Gipson didn’t have a gun. In jail two months later, however, she told police Gipson did have a gun and that “it’s his fault he died that day,” the memo says.
Physical evidence confirmed that Gipson fired a pistol found by his body at the scene, according to Patterson, who concluded that it was a shot from that gun that most likely struck Randy Chalk.
Between them, Faegre and Culbertson-Faegre appeared to have fired 12 rounds, according to the prosecutor’s office. Gipson suffered seven gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy, which also found Gipson had meth in his system.
In making its determination, the prosecutor’s office cited the character of the parties involved in the altercation, writing: “When self-defense is an issue at trial, juries will hear and consider evidence regarding the character of the individuals involved.”
Faegre, Culbertson-Faegre and Works each have a valid carry concealed weapon permit, according to Patterson, and none of them have any known criminal history. Gipson had a “lengthy arrest history,” according to Patterson. The firearm he possessed had allegedly been stolen in September 2014, and the next month, police responded to a disturbance in which a landlord reported Gipson displayed and threatened use of a handgun while Gipson was being evicted.
The prosecutor’s office said no one initially claimed the incident was racially motivated, but went on to note that Chalk did so in a late November interview with the News-Leader from his hospital bed.
“Based upon the investigation, there is no evidence that this shooting is a racially motivated crime,” Patterson wrote.
In conclusion, Patterson wrote “there is no question that the shooting and death of Alex Gipson is a regrettable and possibly preventable tragedy.”
“In hindsight, we can only wish that all parties involved had waited for May to return and/or for the police to arrive and resolve the situation.”
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