Arrest made in possible drug-related shooting

A Butler County man confessed Monday to shooting another man he alleges earlier had stolen a weapon and money from him.

Robert Jams Garrette turned himself in at the Butler County Sheriff’s Department late Monday morning, said Chief Deputy Wes Popp.

The 46-year-old was arrested on a no-bond warrant, charging him with the Class A felony of first-degree assault, the unclassified felony of armed criminal action and the Class E felony of unlawful use of a weapon.

In a subsequent interview, “he admitted to it,” shooting Kevin Wallace on Friday night at the Relax Motel, according to Investigator Brandon Lowe.

Garrette, Lowe said, alleged Wallace “took a gun and $300 cash” from him at gunpoint during “one of the times he went out” to a location on Halfmoon Road on Friday.

“The victim is very uncooperative, and we believe it to be drug related,” said Sheriff Mark Dobbs.

Authorities learned of the shooting when Butler County deputies responded at about 8 p.m. Friday to the Relax Motel in the 3100 block of South Westwood.

Upon Deputy James Allison’s arrival, he found Wallace lying in the doorway of one of the rooms.

Wallace, according to Allison’s report, was “yelling in pain, making statements of being shot and needing help.”

Another deputy, Allison said, was rendering aid to Wallace, who had a “small entry wound to the upper right torso and a large exit wound to the lower left torso.”

Allison said Wallace was taken by ambulance to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center for treatment. He later was flown to a Cape Girardeau hospital for further treatment.

Before Wallace was transferred, Lowe contacted him at the hospital.

“I attempted to speak with Wallace, but he was medicated, and with his injuries, I was not able to get much of a statement,” Lowe wrote in his probable-cause statement.

Wallace, Lowe said, had been shot through the stomach.

“According to medical staff, it was a complete pass through, meaning the bullet,” Lowe said.

Lowe said he subsequently interviewed Wallace’s girlfriend at the sheriff’s department.

The woman, Lowe said, reported she and Wallace had gone into town and picked up another woman and subsequently dropped her off at a location on Halfmoon Road.

After Wallace and his girlfriend arrived back at the Relax Motel, Lowe said, the girlfriend reported she received a text from the other woman saying she had been robbed and needed help.

Lowe said Wallace’s girlfriend reported she and Wallace picked the other woman up at a house in Poplar Bluff, but she wouldn’t say where that house was located, and again returned the other woman to the Halfmoon Road location.

When they arrived at the Halfmoon Road location, there was a male “she called ‘Bobby,’” later identified as Garrette, there. Garrette also reportedly had been there earlier in the day.

“(She) stated that Bobby appeared to be so ‘doped’ up that there were multiple male subjects that were trying to bring him to,” Lowe said. “ … she thought Bobby had overdosed.”

Lowe said Wallace’s girlfriend further reported she, Wallace and the other woman returned to the motel.

“(The woman) stated they were inside the room when the door flung open,” Lowe said. “(She) described the door as being kicked open.”

Lowe said the woman identified Garrette as the subject who kicked open the door.

“(She) stated that Bobby was telling Kevin to give him his money and that he had an AR-15,” Lowe said. “(She) stated that the firearm was under his right armpit, and his left hand was on the barrel, and he was pointing it at Kevin.”

Wallace, according to his girlfriend’s statement, put his hands up and asked Garrette to put the gun down.

“(She) stated that Bobby pushed Kevin, and when Bobby did this, he fired a shot, striking Kevin,” Lowe said.

Wallace’s girlfriend subsequently picked Garrette out of a photographic lineup.