CRIME: CAPE MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN SHOOTING

An 18-year-old Cape Girardeau man was charged with second-degree murder and three other crimes Friday in connection with a shooting in Indian Park near downtown Cape Girardeau.

Robert Criddle of 323 S. Hanover remained in the city jail late Friday on $1.25 million bond. He also is charged with armed criminal action, stealing and tampering with physical evidence in the Thursday shooting death of Jesus Sides, 19, of Cape Girardeau.

Cape Girardeau Coroner John Carpenter said an autopsy revealed Sides was killed when a bullet of undetermined size entered his right arm and passed through his lungs and heart before exiting his chest. The shot was not fired at close range.

Carpenter said Sides' death was "pretty instantaneous." Firefighters attempted to revive Sides for several minutes before he was transported to Southeast Missouri Hospital, where he was pronounced dead by Carpenter at 5:08 p.m.

A 16-year-old male also is in custody in connection with the shooting, but a 17-year-old male questioned Thursday was set free pending a review of evidence. Police do not release the names of juvenile suspects.

Cpl. Kevin Orr of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said investigators recovered evidence in the case, including two handguns one in a portable toilet in Indian Park and another in some bushes nearby. Witnesses to the incident have been reluctant to come forth with information so far, he said.

"We know there were more people who were there and saw it than are coming forward," Orr said. "We are encouraging anyone who saw anything to come forth and share that information with us."

Sides had been at Indian Park just prior to the shooting, which police have characterized as a "grudge" shooting that originated last month following a stabbing at a local nightclub. It is unclear how Sides moved from the park, located at the northwest corner of Lorimier and William streets, up the hill to the 200 block of South Lorimier Street.