Witness: April shooting incident caused by 'bad blood'

An April shoot-out on a Cape Girardeau street may have been the result of "bad blood" due to court testimony, a witness testified Wednesday.

During a preliminary hearing for Corey Shannon, 26, of Kansas City, Mo., Clemmie Lane, 34, testified he, his brother and cousin were walking to a home in the 1000 block of South Ellis Street on April 18 to confront another group about an earlier quarrel.

As the trio walked toward the home, shots rang out.

"Corey started shooting," Lane testified, adding no words were exchanged between the trio and Shannon immediately before the shooting.

Lane said the shooting was possibly due to "bad blood" between he and others on the porch since Lane had previously testified against one of their friends in a court case.

Shannon is charged with felony first-degree assault and felony armed criminal action in the shooting. No one was injured by the gunfire, but one bullet crashed through a window at 1005 S. Ellis St.

The defendant was on a porch with several other people when he began firing the weapon, according to Lane, who stood about 50 to 75 feet away.

Lane's brother, Jimmy Hudson Jr., 28, testified he heard five or six gunshots, but did not see who fired the weapon.

"When it got to shooting, I just ran," Hudson said. His brother and cousin also fled.

Lane said he ran behind his brother's house, which is about two homes down, and grabbed a gun he had placed earlier there in the grass in case there were "some problems," he said.

He ran back toward the house from where the shots were fired and saw a group of people were getting into a car. As he was running, he dropped the gun, which was picked up and fired once by his cousin. After the single shot, the weapon's clip fell out.

When asked why he retrieved the gun and went back to the scene of the shooting, Lane said he was seeking retaliation.

"People shooting at me, I think I have a right to protect myself," he testified, adding he would have fired the gun had he not dropped it. Neither he nor his cousin were charged in the case.

Following the hearing, Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp found probable cause in the case and scheduled Shannon to appear in Circuit Court 9 a.m. June 26 before Judge Benjamin Lewis for arraignment.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127