The man killed in a shooting on Independence Day in Ash Grove has been identified.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office says the victim is Cory Estey, 47, of Walnut Grove. Deputies found his body after responding to a call about shots fired in the area of 8707 North Farm Road 43 in Ash Grove.
The gunman, Lakota Tucker, 20, claims the shooting was not intentional.
Court documents say that about half an hour after the deputies arrived on the scene, Tucker showed up and said he was the one who shot Estey.
According to court documents, Tucker told investigators that he went to the home to retrieve some belongings of his mother, who died in April 2021. Tucker said he moved out of the home in 2019, but had permission to be there to get his mother’s belongings.
Tucker had loaded a table from outside the house and took it to his current residence, and then returned, noticing a deer stand in a field and went to retrieve that. When he returned to the home, a man rushed out of the house and confronted Tucker. Tucker explained to the man that he was collecting his mother’s property.
The man, identified as Estey, told Tucker that he had already called law enforcement and demanded that Tucker “step out of the truck.” When Tucker tried to leave, Estey threatened to start shooting and walked toward the home. Tucker said he fired two shots from a rifle out the window as he fled the property.
“I didn’t want to kill him, I just wanted to (profanity) scare him,” Tucker said. Deputies found the rifle and magazine in Tucker’s home.
Tucker was in the Greene County Jail on $50,000 bonds, facing charges of second degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon, and armed criminal action.