A Cape Girardeau man has pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a man standing on a front porch with a child in 2016 after prosecutors amended the charge to second-degree murder, court records show.

Tavious Tipler, 20, changed his plea to guilty in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court on Jan. 2.

He originally had been charged with first-degree murder in the March 31, 2016, shooting death of Airious Darling, who was shot in the face.

But in a signed statement to the court last week, Tipler admitted to shooting Darling.

According to the statement, Tipler said that in exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors would recommend a 25-year prison sentence on the second-degree murder charge with sentencing for a previous probation violation to run concurrently.

Under Missouri law, a second-degree murder conviction could carry a sentence of life in prison.

Judge Michael Gardner set sentencing for 10:30 a.m. March 9 in circuit court in Jackson.

Witness Deven Harris testified at Tipler�s preliminary hearing in June 2016 that Tipler told him �the wrong guy got shot.�

The victim was returning a 1-year-old child to the child�s father when he was fatally shot while standing on the porch at 612 Locust St., police said.

Darling was baby-sitting for Corey Gilbert, who lived at the Locust Street address, according to a probable-cause statement.

Gilbert told police Tipler was gunning for him, not Darling, according to the statement.

Gilbert said he was robbed in January 2016. According to the statement, Gilbert confronted Tipler two weeks before the shooting and told him he would identify him to police in connection with the robbery.

Tipler admitted to police his role in that crime, according to the probable-cause statement.

The murder case had been set to go to trial in February before Tipler entered the guilty plea.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

612 Locust St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.