By Associated Press - Saturday, July 25, 2020

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) - A Lee’s Summit man has been charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of another man in Independence.

Arieous Walton-Merritt, 23, was also charged with armed criminal action in the death of Matthew Bland-Williams, 26, prosecutors said Saturday.

Officers found Bland-Williams suffering from gunshot wounds in front of an Independence home on Thursday. He died later at a hospital.



Surveillance video from a neighbor’s home shows Walton-Merritt firing twice before the two men struggled over the gun. Bland-Williams got control of the gun and fired twice as Walton-Merritt drove away.

Walton-Merritt was later found collapsed in front of another home suffering from gunshot wounds.

Walton-Merritt was being held on a $100,000 bond. No attorney was listed for him in online court records.

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