SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Springfield police are trying to determine why a man in his 50's was shot to death inside an apartment on east Elm. Officers are calling the shooting a homicide. On Thursday, no one was arrested for the crime. “I stuck my head out and saw the police down there,” Neighbor Fred Bourgeois said. His friends called to alert him someone was killed just doors down from his apartment. “It was a little bit too close to home,” Bourgeois said. “We keep our doors locked for a reason.”
The man in his 50’s did not live in the apartment where he died. Around 5:30 this morning, neighbors called 911. “When we arrived we went straight to the apartment where the incident was supposed to have taken place,” Springfield Police Officer David Snider said. “Once we entered the apartment we discovered a deceased person.” Officers then canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses. They are also trying to determine the identity of the man who was killed. “We do not have any information on the person at all,” Snider said. “Obviously we are in the preliminary stages of the investigation.”
Neighbors watched the investigation continue for more than 11 hours at the scene. “We didn't hear anything. That's what shocked us we didn't hear any gunshots,” Bourgeois said. “These walls are really thin.”
Officers did question the person who lives inside the apartment where the man died however officers have not made any arrests. “This is going to be treated as an isolated incident,” Snider said. “We don't believe there is any impending danger on any of the residents in the neighborhood.”
