Document: Bollinger County homicide victim found gripping knife; suspect invoked Biden statement

Weeks before Terry Allen is alleged to have shot and killed his neighbor, Tina L. Skaggs, he told a Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office sergeant that he would kill Skaggs’ son if he ever saw him on his property again. He also invoked President Joe Biden’s name as his reason for being permitted to shoot someone on his property.

That’s according to a just-filed probable-cause statement posted online regarding the Dec. 17 killing on Route Y in Bollinger County. Allen is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Allen contacted the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 16 and spoke with a sergeant about a report of property damage, according to the statement, signed by Capt. Nick Becker.

During that November interview with the sergeant, Allen alleged that Skaggs and her son damaged his property and stole from him. Allen allegedly told the officer that he, Allen, “is old, and that if he catches Victim 1’s son on his (Allen’s) property, he (Allen) will shoot him. Allen stated his life is almost over and that prison would be nothing.” Allen and Skaggs lived on the same property but lived in separate buildings, according to the probable-cause statement. During the November interview, according to the report, the sergeant warned Allen he could not shoot someone for walking on his property, but Allen stated that “President Biden said he could shoot them in the leg and that’s what he would do before waiting for law enforcement to arrive.”

President Biden made a statement in 2020 that law enforcement officers should shoot suspects in the leg as a way to avoid fatal shootings.

Less than two weeks later, the sheriff’s office received a phone call from Allen saying he had shot someone who was in his yard, the statement said. Allen told the dispatcher he was inside his home with his hands visible.

When officers responded, they found Skaggs’ body in the yard, approximately 100 feet from Allen’s residence, the probable-cause statement said. Investigators found blood in several places, including in a living area of Skaggs’ residence. Officers described a 15-foot blood trail that spanned from Skaggs toward the residence. They observed several areas of blood in the carport. The probable-cause statement suggests Skaggs was shot inside her home, went outside, collapsed and then died from her wound.

Responding officers noted that in her final position, Skaggs was gripping a knife in her right hand.

One of the responding officers found a Ruger .380 pistol with blood on it about 5 feet from where Allen was sitting and waiting for police to arrive. Allen was taken in for questioning.

During an interview with state Highway Patrol investigators, Allen stated the knife Skaggs was holding was a butcher knife that had originally belonged to him. He said he had given it to her on a previous occasion. He also showed officers a “very small laceration on his thumb near his fingernail.” Not long after, Allen asked for an attorney.

Skaggs was killed Dec. 17. An autopsy revealed Skaggs died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to a social media post issued by the Bollinger County sheriff Dec. 20.

A search on Missouri’s online court database does not reveal any previous criminal history by Allen.

In 2015, Tina L. Skaggs pleaded guilty of a Class C felony drug possession charge in Wayne County.