Feud over gun sale led to killing of 19-year-old, police say
A 19-year-old Springfield man was charged Thursday with murder after police say he shot and killed another 19-year-old in the city's Grant Beach neighborhood early Wednesday morning.
Police say Chase Dylan Adams’ internet history on his phone showed he was searching for apartments in Canada just after the shooting.
Officers responded to a home on the 1500 block of West Hamilton Street shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday and found the body of Zechariah S. Miles, according to a news release.
Miles and a friend of Adams had a disagreement in December over a purchase of a handgun, according to a probable cause statement. The conflict was over how much Miles paid Adams' friend.
Adams made threats to do a "drive by" at Miles' residence, according to the statement.
Adams talked about the shooting with two witnesses on social media Wednesday morning, the statement said.
According to the documents:
Adams messaged the first witness, "I'm the one that been shootn over there."
Adams also said, "Whatever ill be back thorough after the police gone."
In a separate conversation, the second witness asked Adams who did it and Adams replied: “Me and my buddy.”
The second witness then asked Adams who actually shot him and Adams said, “Me.”
Adams called the second witness later that afternoon and gave additional information about the shooting which was consistent with evidence from the residence where Miles was shot.
During an interview with police, Adams denied involvement with Miles' death.
After being confronted with the messages from social media, Adams said he sent some of the messages but denied sending the messages that admitted guilt, the statement said.
The statement said Adams' cellphone showed Facebook Messenger was installed up until around noon Wednesday. The social media account the two witnesses communicated with was logged on Adams' cellphone, according to the statement.
According to documents from the Greene County Prosecutor's Office, Adams has been charged with armed criminal action in addition to second-degree murder.
Online court records show Adams is being held in the Greene County Jail on a $500,000 bond.
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That homicide took place directly across the street from where another a man was fatally shot a week earlier.
Six days before Miles was fatally shot, officers found 19-year-old David Shockley — who had been shot twice — lying in the carport of a house midway down the block. Inside the home, another man had been shot and injured and a woman had been hit in the head with a flashlight, according to court documents.
Two women have been charged with burglaries in connection with the incident. As of Wednesday, online court records show no one had been charged with killing Shockley.
Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams has said the two homicides do not appear to be connected.
One homeowner on West Hamilton Street told the News-Leader she had lived there since 1960 and didn't recall a single homicide taking place until last month.