A fatal shooting outside a Springfield Walmart Neighborhood Market on July 14, 2021, left 33-year-old Tanner L. Stichka dead. Officers responded during the noon hour to the store at 1320 South Glenstone Avenue and found Stichka with a gunshot wound near the entrance; he was pronounced dead at the scene after receiving medical attention.

Investigators report that Stichka approached a parked van near the store’s entrance and engaged in a verbal or physical altercation with the van’s driver, identified as 45-year-old Robert D. Weiser of Bentonville, Arkansas. Weiser, working as a delivery driver for the store’s pharmacy, produced a firearm during the confrontation and shot Stichka. Weiser was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder and booked into the Greene County Jail, but prosecutors declined to file formal charges and he was released the next day.

After the shooting officers found Stichka’s husky, Zeke, locked inside the victim’s car; the dog was left alone about 90 minutes before officers retrieved him and took him to a veterinarian. A community member paid the veterinary bill and Zeke was returned to Stichka’s family. Does anyone have information about the events leading up to the confrontation that morning?