By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
A Carl Junction man remained in critical condition Thursday after being shot multiple times Wednesday night in south Joplin.
Charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action were filed Thursday against Nathan R. Spencer, 18, of Joplin. The shooting victim, identified as Andrew Yaple, 22, remained at Freeman Hospital West, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
Details about how many shots were fired, how many times and where Yaple was hit, and the type of weapon used either were not being released or were still unavailable late Thursday afternoon, said Joplin police Lt. Brian Lewis.
“Hopefully he (Yaple) will pull through,” Lewis said.
The probable-cause affidavit states that Spencer fired “multiple times” at a vehicle that was stopped near 41st Street and Joplin Avenue. A press release issued Thursday morning by police states that Yaple was shot “numerous times.”
Lewis said Spencer was the only one firing a weapon.
Police were summoned about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday to the intersection. Lewis said that before the shooting, Yaple and Spencer had met at the May’s Drug Warehouse parking lot near 32nd and South Main streets, apparently intent on racing down Main Street.
Police say a disagreement or altercation between the two then ensued, and vehicles carrying Spencer and Yaple ended up near 41st Street and Joplin Avenue. Police allege that Spencer then left his vehicle and opened fire on Yaple’s vehicle before fleeing.
Spencer was apprehended later by police.
Lewis said police were still trying to ascertain whether there were any passengers in either vehicle.
Neither Spencer nor Yaple is from the neighborhood where the shooting took place. Spencer lists an address in the 800 block of South Moffet Avenue.
Marjorie Harbolt, who lives near the shooting location, said she didn’t think she heard any gunshots. She said she was awakened from sleep by the sound of vehicles and then saw flashing lights through a window. Her grandson told her that he had heard the sounds of vehicles racing before the shooting took place.
She said her grandson spoke with police, and he told her that the authorities reportedly had recovered 17 shell casings.
“We’re a quiet residential neighborhood,” she said. “It’s kind of disturbing.”
Harbolt’s neighbor, Ray Roy, said he was at his computer when he heard a “loud noise” that he later speculated could have been a burst of automatic gunfire. He said he thought he heard a vehicle race away.
Soon afterward, Roy said, a police officer knocked at his door and asked if everyone in the house was all right.
Roy said he soon went outside to talk with police about whether any suspects were still at large in the neighborhood. He said he walked by what was Yaple’s pickup truck and saw that its driver’s side window was shattered.
“I made the statement, ‘Well, I hope nobody was hurt,’” Roy recalled of his conversation with police.
Like Harbolt, he characterized the neighborhood as a quiet area.
“That was too close for comfort,” Roy’s wife, Marsha, said of the shooting.
In custody
Nathan R. Spencer was in custody Thursday in Newton County on a $100,000 cash-only bond.
