Eric Q. Collins
Eric Q. Collins, 29, of Arnold has been charged in the shooting death of a 46-year-old House Springs man at a mobile home community north of House Springs and east of Byrnes Mill, Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak announced.
Collins allegedly shot and killed Michael Gray on Tuesday night, Sept. 13, at a mobile home on Mockingbird Hill in the Crest Manor Mobile Home Estate community. North Jefferson County Ambulance District personnel pronounced Gray dead at 8:58 p.m. Tuesday, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said.
Today, Sept. 14, the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Collins with first-degree murder, a class A felony punishable by 10 to 30 years or life in prison, and armed criminal action, an unclassified felony that carries a penalty of three to 15 years in prison, court documents show.
Collins was being held without bond this evening at the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, according to court records.
The Sheriff’s Office received a report at about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday about multiple gunshots at the mobile home community. Shortly after that, deputies were told a man had been shot, the report said.
When deputies arrived, they found Gray suffering from gunshot wounds to his torso area. A woman who lives in the mobile home where the shooting occurred told investigators Gray was her boyfriend, the probable-cause statement in the case said.
She said another woman had been invited to the home, and when she arrived, Collins was with her. She said Gray told Collins he had to leave the home, the report said.
The woman who lives at the mobile home said Collins shot Gray and left with the other woman, according to the report.
Investigators identified a vehicle belonging to the woman who Collins arrived at the home with and spoke with her at her home. She told investigators Collins shot Gray, the probable-cause statement said.
Investigators then located Collins, who lives in the 1400 block of Becker Driver in Arnold, at about 4 a.m. today in House Springs, Marshak said.
When investigators began asking him about the events leading up to the reported shooting, Collins requested an attorney, the report said.
When Collins was being escorted to the Jefferson County Jail after requesting an attorney, he asked if the woman he came to the mobile home with was in jail. When he was told she was not, he allegedly said, “I guess I should’ve said she shot him then,” according to the report.
Collins, who previously lived in Pacific, is a convicted felon and is not allowed to carry or possess a firearm, the report said.
In May 2016, he pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and resisting arrest following an October 2014 incident in Franklin County. He had been sentenced to five years for burglary and four years for resisting arrest, but the sentences were suspended and he was placed on five years’ probation, according to court records.