Butler County sheriff offers $500 reward for capture of Walter Currie

A $500 reward is being offered by Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs for “direct information” leading to the capture of Walter Lee Currie Jr.

Currie, whose last known address was in the 500 block of West Harper Street, is wanted in connection with an early Thursday morning shooting on the parking lot of the Motel 6. No one was injured by the rifle rounds allegedly fired by Currie.

The 26-year-old should be considered armed and dangerous, said Butler County Investigator Brandon Lowe.

Currie reportedly was last seen driving a silver, four-door passenger car.

A no-bond warrant was issued for Currie’s arrest Thursday afternoon. He is charged with the Class B felonies of first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon (counts), the unclassified felony of armed criminal action and the Class D felony of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Currie is accused of shooting at a 36-year-old Poplar Bluff man, who he allegedly had a prior dispute with over a woman.

“4:43 this morning is when we got the first call reporting shots fired on the parking lot of Motel 6,” explained Lowe. “ … As officers were responding, the victim called the office and said, ‘I’m on my way up there’ and that he was the one who had been shot at at Motel 6.”

When deputies arrived at the motel, Lowe said, they found eight shell casings from a high-powered rifle, and they also found where a vehicle had struck a curb and caused ruts in a grassy area.

“While I was processing the scene, we got a call from an individual at the Camelot RV Park across (Highway) 67” who reported “a bullet had went through his camper,” Lowe explained. The timing of the incidents reportedly were the same.

While at the RV park, Lowe said, he saw a bullet hole on the west side of the camper.

Lowe said the bullet had gone through the headboard of the man’s bed before exiting on the other side of the camper.

“It missed him by just inches,” Lowe said. “ … He said it was close enough that when it came through, it splintered the wood, and splinters hit him in the face.”

Dobbs estimated the bullet traveled about 1,000 yards and crossed eight lanes of traffic, as well as the parking lots of at least two other businesses before hitting the camper.

During the investigation, Lowe said he met Currie’s alleged victim at the sheriff’s department.

“The victim knew who the shooter was; he identified him as ‘June,’” which is the street name for Currie, Lowe said. “He said that June pulled around in a gray car and pointed a rifle out the driver’s side window and began firing at him.”

The rounds, Lowe explained, were fired toward the driver’s side of the victim’s passenger car, with three rounds hitting around the corner of the windshield and driver’s door frame.

“The front windshield was shattered; one actually went out the top of the car, though the roof,” said Lowe, who indicated the victim was not injured.

As the shots were fired, Lowe said, the victim reported he “floored it,” saying, “‘I got out of there as quick as I could.’”

Lowe said the victim reported his car struck the curb, then ran through a grassy area before coming out in another parking lot.

It is unknown where Currie went after leaving the parking lot, said Lowe.

“(The victim) said, ‘I didn’t turn around to look. I was just trying to get away from him,’” said Lowe, who indicated the victim picked Currie out of a photographic lineup as the shooter.

“He said the motivation was over a female he (the victim) had been dating,” Lowe said.

The victim reported there had been a prior incident on Sunday at his residence between he and Currie, Lowe said. Currie, who was armed with a firearm, allegedly threatened the victim.

“It pertained to the victim breaking up with this girl,” Lowe said. “He kicked her out of his house.”

Lowe said the ties, if any, between Currie and the woman are unknown.

The victim, according to Lowe, reported he was at the motel because he had picked up an individual walking on Highway 53 and had given him or her a ride to the motel. That person had entered the building before the shooting occurred, he said.

At this time, Lowe said, authorities do not know how Currie knew the victim would be at the motel.

At the time of the alleged shooting, Currie was being supervised by Probation and Parole on two convictions through Butler County.

Currie reportedly is on parole after being released from the Missouri Department of Corrections on a Class B felony of sale of a controlled substance. He had been sentence to a nine years in 2016.

In December, Currie pleaded guilty to the Class D felony of unlawful possession of a firearm in Butler County.

The court sentenced Currie, who was charged as a prior and persistent offender, to 10 years in prison, with suspended execution of the sentence and placed him on five years’ supervised probation.

Currie also has previous convictions for the Class C felonies of second-degree burglary and stealing.

Anyone with information about Currie’s whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff’s department at 785-8444.