The Greene County Prosecutor’s Office is dropping charges against a Kansas man who had been charged in connection with a shooting in downtown Springfield.
Jawaun Thompson, 23, had been charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action related to a shooting outside Zan nightclub in Springfield on April 25 that left a man with serious gunshot wounds. The assault charge could have brought a possible life sentence.
Thompson had traveled to Springfield with two friends from Kansas to check out Springfield’s nightlife.
Thompson had claimed from the beginning he had only fired shots after he was jumped by two men that followed him from the nightclub. Court documents say that around 1:20 a.m. a man approached Thompson and tried to fight with him. Thompson and the man fell to the ground and that’s when a third person tried to get involved, and that’s when Thompson fired two shots.
After reviewing the evidence, including police body camera footage, the prosecutor felt they could not dispute Thompson’s self-defense claims.
“We are unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jawaun Thompson did not act in self-defense in this incident and have dismissed the case,” assistant Greene County Prosecutor Scott Lucy told KWTO.