Probable cause reveals details in murder probe

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New details emerged in court documents filed about what transpired during last Sunday’s shooting in a grocery store parking lot that left a 33-year-old Scipio man dead.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant filed the probable cause affidavit Friday in the case of William E. Baker, 61, of Seymour, who is accused of murdering his brother-in-law, Dustin Payne.

The incident, reported at 5:57 p.m. Sunday, occurred in the parking lot of JayC Food Store, 1181 W. Tipton St., Seymour.

At the time, Payne had been picking up his children, ages 7 to 12, from his ex-wife in a visitation exchange.

Payne’s four children were present during the shooting and were interviewed by police along with his sister, who is married to Baker, his ex-wife and his fiancée, according to the probable cause affidavit signed by Detective Troy Munson.

“I didn’t mean to hurt that boy,” Baker told investigators.

According to witnesses, Payne, his fiancée and the four children were leaving the parking lot when Payne asked his children whose car their mother had walked to after the exchange occurred.

Witnesses told police after Payne discovered his ex-wife was walking to a car occupied by his sister and Baker, he pulled back around, parked and took a photo.

Payne then got out of his Chevrolet Suburban and walked over to Baker’s parked car, police said.

Witnesses said Payne then tapped on Baker’s passenger-side window, where Baker was seated, and that Payne shoved Baker’s shoulder.

Police said video showed Payne walked back to his vehicle and that he was followed by his sister and his ex-wife. A verbal altercation then occurred between Payne’s sister and his fiancée after he instructed her to fight his sister.

There is no video of that fight, but audio from it was captured. Women can be heard arguing, and then 12 seconds later, one shot is fired, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Payne was hit in the upper-right quadrant by a single-shot .357 Magnum handgun that police recovered from Baker’s vehicle.

Police collected videos that partially show the incident taken by Payne’s fiancée and ex-wife as evidence. Surveillance cameras from the grocery store did not reach the area of the parking lot where the incident took place.

Baker told police Payne pushed him as the women began to argue, so he put his hand on his gun, which was at his waist, to discourage the situation from escalating. He said he pulled the gun out after Payne shoved him again, and then Payne shoved him a third time before Baker shot him.

Witnesses did not corroborate that claim in police interviews, but some of them said the two men were face to face shortly before the shooting. Some witnesses said Baker grabbed Payne’s shoulder and turned him around, according to court documents.

Witnesses told police Payne was not armed.

Baker told police he heard the children screaming after the shooting, and he returned the gun to the car before helping his sister apply pressure to Payne’s wound.

Officer Crystal Schapson, the first to arrive on the scene, said Baker’s wife was standing over her brother and yelled “It was self-defense.”

Baker told police during an interview that he and his wife, who is Payne’s brother, were not invited to the exchange but went to support Payne’s ex-wife, according to court documents.

Baker told police a similar incident occurred a week before the shooting during a visitation exchange. In that incident, Baker parked his truck and observed the exchange from the parking lot of the former Save A Lot grocery store. He said there were only words exchanged between he and Payne then.

He told police he had carried a gun for years and “I’m not that hothead” when he carries a gun.

Baker said he and Payne had never fought, but there were tensions for years between his wife, himself and Payne.

Payne, who was conscious and talking at the scene, was treated at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour and was in stable condition before being flown to the trauma center at University of Louisville Hospital, where he died.

Baker has yet to appear for his initial hearing in Jackson Circuit Court. Judge Richard W. Poynter will preside over the case.

A previous version of this article stated that William Baker and his wife observed a visitation exchange from the former Save A Lot parking lot the week before the shooting. The article has been corrected as police did not say Baker’s wife was with him at that time.

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