Shooting spree leaves one dead

and Scott Moyers ~ Southeast Missourian

Convinced his old friend had spilled the beans about his private life -- including possibly tipping one lover off about a relationship with a second woman -- a Cape Girardeau man went on a shooting spree that ended in his own death Friday, police said.

It began with him forcing his way into one woman's residence in Fruitland, Mo., and firing shots as she fled. It continued with him shooting another woman in the head at her home on Kingshighway. It ended with his death after a shoot-out in a local bar.

Winford S. Griffith, 64, died in the Southeast Missouri Hospital emergency room about two hours after exchanging gunfire with Cleo Johns, a 64-year-old man who later told police they had been friends since they were in the eighth grade.

An hour earlier, police say Griffith shot Mary Boitnott in the head while she was in bed in her mobile home at 1927 N. Kingshighway and left her for dead. They said he had also fired about 10 rounds from his .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun at another woman in Fruitland earlier in the morning.

Boitnott was listed in critical condition Friday night at St. Francis Medical Center after undergoing surgery. Hospital officials would provide no details on her injuries.

Another man in the bar, Kenny Tollison, 56, of Cape Girardeau, was grazed in the forehead by richocheting bullet. Tollison was treated and released from Southeast Missouri Hospital.

Six-year relationship

A probable-cause affidavit allowed police to search Griffith's home Friday evening. Based on police interviews with Johns and other key witnesses, the document gives this account:

Boitnott, who is married, had been in a six-year romantic relationship with Griffith. Apparently Boitnott had been getting suspicious that Griffith was cheating on her.

Griffith lived in a mobile home that was in the same trailer park as the one shared by Boitnott and her husband, Robert.

Boitnott had been following Griffith to find out if he was cheating on her, Johns told police. She had also been pressuring Johns to tell her whether Griffith was dating anyone else.

Thursday, after Johns told Boitnott he thought Griffith was seeing a woman in Fruitland, Boitnott confronted the woman and Griffith. Both denied any affair.

Griffith was angry at the accusation, and Boitnott called Johns to warn him that Griffith knew he was the one who told her about the other woman.

Boitnott told Johns that Griffith had threatened to shoot her and her husband, then come after Johns.

The woman told police Friday that Griffith was a friend to her and her husband and often came to their home in Fruitland. But after Boitnott's accusation, the woman told Griffith to stay away from her home if her husband wasn't there.

Forced his way in

When Griffith showed up at the house about 8 a.m. Friday, the woman hid, hoping Griffith would give up and leave. Instead he forced his way in and told her she would either talk to him or be killed.

When she fled, she heard him shoot. As she ran out of the house she found his truck with the keys inside and drove off. Griffith fired at least 10 shots at her, sheriff's deputies estimated based on the shell casings left at the scene.

One bullet went through the driver's side window and hit the dashboard of the truck.

Griffith took the woman's truck and left the scene, heading to the Star Vue Mobile Home Court on North Kingshighway behind Fountainbleau Lodge. Once there, he went to the Boitnott's trailer.

At about 8:30 a.m., Robert Boitnott was in the living room watching television and Mary Boitnott was still in bed.

Robert Boitnott told police he heard his wife yell, "Bob! Bob!" and then heard a pop.

When he got up to investigate, he saw Griffith at the back door with a silver handgun. Griffith reportedly told him "Don't come back here or I will kill you, too!"

When Griffith left, Robert Boitnott dialed 911 and then found his wife lying on the floor, still conscious.

As police searched the trailer court, Griffith was apparently heading for Ed's Bar.

Johns had armed himself with a .380 caliber Colt semiautomatic in case Griffith's threat was serious.

Heard it on scanner

While he was at Ed's Bar, the bartender told him that they had just heard on the police scanner that Griffith had shot Boitnott.

Others told similar stories.

Janet Lowes was in the bar when Griffith came in with a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic. She had gone there when bartender Wanda Blankenship called her at home and told her Boitnott, their mutual friend, had been shot. Boitnott is also a part-time bartender at Ed's.

Listening to a scanner in the bar that told them Griffith was seen walking into Ed's, they got a brief warning that Griffith was on the way.

"He opened the door with one hand and he had the other hand behind his back," said Lowes, 52, of Cape Girardeau. "He pulled his gun out and Wanda said, 'No, Griff.' To me, it looked like he was aiming at Mr. Johns."

Lowes said that Blankenship threw her into the back room as about five shots were exchanged.

Johns told police he believed Griffith fired three shots at him and that Johns emptied his pistol at Griffith.

"I thought he'd killed them all," Lowes said. "But then I heard Wanda say something and I came out. That guy should have been put away a long time ago. He's a bully. I am really shook up over this."

Blankenship said that when Griffith walked in, Johns got up from his chair and went to the other end of the bar to get away from other patrons at the bar, who were familiar with the situation.

"I looked over and saw Mr. Johns get his gun out," Blankenship said. "That's when I went over and told Griff he needed to put his gun down. But that's when the two of them started shooting."

Blankenship ducked behind the bar.

Blankenship considers herself a friend of Boitnott, and said she had never heard anything about any extramarital affairs.

"She's a very self-contained person," she said. "She keeps her emotions to herself. I don't know anything about that other stuff."

When asked how well she knew Griffith, she said: "Listen, I'm too mentally exhausted to think anymore."

Jaynee Brown, who has owned Ed's since 1976, wasn't at the bar at the time of the shooting. She said that there was no substantial damage, only a nick where a bullet richocheted.

Johns was released after questioning, but Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle would not rule out filing charges against Johns.

abuchanan@semissourian.com

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smoyers@semissourian.com

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