No charges filed a year after Springfield man killed in shooting

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – A year after a Springfield man was shot and killed near his home, prosecutors say they will not file charges.

Jacob Gatten was shot and killed after a brief altercation on Sheridan Street in Springfield.

“When an injustice like this is committed, there are consequences. There are actions for the people who did this. Nothing has happened,” said Marissa Gatten, Jacob’s sister.

She described to us what investigators told the family.

“Jake was driving home. He was on his street when cars blocked the road. “Jake walked away when he heard a gunshot,” he said.

Gatten says that even though she was told her brother was shot in the back, the family was told no criminal charges would be filed in his death.

“We sat in a room with the prosecutor and the detective, my mom, my dad and me. “We asked numerous questions,” he said. “I will tell you that many times they did not have answers. They couldn’t explain why they would say self-defense. They would just say that’s what the court might say. Our whole thing was like, well, there’s always a defense that could happen. Why do we try it in a small conference room? Why don’t we present it to a judge or jury?”

Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson confirms that while no charges have been filed in this case, one of those involved, Johnny Walker, faces charges in a different case involving first-degree kidnapping and robbery.

“Now he has shown a pattern of violent behavior. He got away with killing someone. “What’s stopping him from doing it again if he hasn’t learned that there are consequences when you take someone’s life?” Gatten said.

She says her family hopes investigators will take a second look.

“We would like there to be some kind of even deeper investigation into what happened and not ‘maybe’ or ‘could have.’ It’s been a year. It’s been a really terrible year for our family. “We just want some kind of justice to be done in light of this,” he said.

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