CRIME: MAN KILLED IN PARK 'GRUDGE' SHOOTING

Three people were arrested in the shooting death of a 19-year-old Cape Girardeau man on Thursday following an apparent argument at Indian Park.

Jesus Sides died from a gunshot wound to the chest, coroner John Carpenter said.

Police took three men, ages 18, 17 and 16, into custody Thursday evening, Cpl. Kevin Orr said. Their cases will be reviewed by the Cape Girardeau County prosecutor's office before charges are filed and their names are released.

After interviewing several witnesses who were near the park when gunfire was reported at 4:13 p.m., police Lt. John Brown said authorities were developing their case and had a theory for the motive.

"It's a grudge thing," Brown said.

Relatives of Sides said his death was the culmination of several weeks of fighting between Sides, his friends and other men.

Tension started between different factions after a Sept. 3 stabbing at the Taste Lounge at 402 Good Hope St., one of the victim's cousins said.

Firefighters attempted to revive Sides for several minutes as he lay in the middle of the 200 block of South Lorimier Street, but Sides died at 5:08 p.m. at Southeast Missouri Hospital, Orr said.

Sides was hit in the chest and right arm. Carpenter said it will take an autopsy to determine how many bullets hit Sides.

Park neighbor Jack Proffer heard five shots but at first didn't think a gun was being fired.

"These kids next door are banging on things all the time," said Proffer, who has lived across from Indian Park for five years.

Tracy Anderson didn't come out of her house in the 200 block of South Lorimier to see what was going on until the shooting stopped.

Shooting has become more regular in her neighborhood over the past three years, she said.

"It's getting to be like south Los Angeles," Anderson said.

Several people have told police they witnessed the shooting, Orr said, but many details were still being confirmed late Thursday. Many witnesses have been reluctant to talk to police.

"We're still in investigative mode," Orr said.

Police had not confirmed how Sides had gone from an argument in the park to lying several hundred feet away on Lorimier Street.

Uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives scoured the neighborhood surrounding Indian Park for hours after the shooting, gathering information from residents.

Brown and other officers walked around a basketball court closest to Lorimier Street searching for evidence. Eventually, officers found a .38-caliber revolver that had been thrown into a portable toilet and a .22-caliber handgun thrown into bushes.

Police were not sure whether the guns were connected with Sides' death, but they will be turned over to the Southeast Missouri Crime Lab for testing, Orr said.

Koch Street resident Emma Jean Wade received news of her cousin's death shortly after arriving home from work. She said she had reported that three young men shot at a truck driven by her daughter almost two weeks ago.

"They came out and took pictures of the bullet holes," she said, "but nobody was arrested."