Two weeks after two separate Springfield shooting deaths, no charges have been filed
Thirty hours separated a pair of deadly Springfield shootings. Two weeks after the respective incidents, no charges have been filed.
Springfield Police said they're still investigating the unrelated shootings, both involving vehicles and the deaths of two local business owners.
Few details have been released about the shootings, including the first that stemmed from an apparent road rage incident.
"These cases warrant further investigation including analysis of evidence and report completion and then coordination with the prosecutor’s office will follow," SPD spokeswoman Cris Swaters said.
On Aug. 30 around 6:30 p.m., SPD received calls about two vehicles hitting each other on North Glenstone Avenue near the freeway exit before the conflict continued westbound.
Officers were then alerted that a man had been shot at Kansas Expressway near the Interstate 44 onramp. When they arrived, they found Michael D. Miller, 39, of Walnut Grove, outside of his vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds.
Miller, the owner of the dog training, boarding and grooming business MMK9 at 1416 East St. Louis Street, died at a local hospital.
Investigators detained the unnamed shooter, who stayed on the scene until police arrived. He was interviewed and released pending the results of the investigation.
The shooter appears to have claimed self-defense. Missouri has a Stand Your Ground law, which says someone can "use physical force upon another person when and to the extent he or she reasonably believes such force to be necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person from what he or she reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful force by such other person."
The law also says "A person does not have a duty to retreat ... From a dwelling, residence, or vehicle where the person is not unlawfully entering or unlawfully remaining.
Missouri also has a very similar Castle Doctrine law, which allows a defendant to use deadly force when he or she reasonably believes it necessary to defend against the use of force by an assailant unlawfully attempting to enter a home or vehicle.
The circumstances that led to the Sept. 1 death of Cole M. Marcinek, 24, are also unclear.
Marcinek, a popular Springfield barber and owner of Cole Cutz on 1700 West College Street, succumbed to gunshot wounds after reports of a 12:30 a.m. shooting at 1632 W. Berkeley St.
Police arrived at the scene and found another man with a gunshot wound was in stable condition. SPD then learned that Marcinek apparently left the scene of the shooting before he was found in his SUV parked in the roadway near Sunset Street and Grant Avenue. He was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds and died in the vehicle.
SPD interviewed witnesses, but no arrests appear to have followed.
Springfield has had 14 homicide cases in 2023. There were 19 homicide cases in 2022, 26 in 2021 and 28 in 2020.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield police have made no arrests in separate shooting deaths
