John Sutterfield, 23, of House Springs has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for shooting and killing Bryan Scholz, 19, in 2017 outside a mobile home in the 5800 block of Redbud Springs in House Springs, according to court records.
Sutterfield pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action, and on Jan. 30, Jefferson County Div. 6 Circuit Judge Troy A. Cardona sentenced him to 17 years for the murder charge, 15 years for unlawful use of a weapon and three years for armed criminal action. The sentences will be served concurrently, or at the same time, court documents show.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Thomas E. Hollingsworth handled the case.
On Feb. 25, 2017, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office got a call about a shooting in the Sycamore Springs mobile home community in House Springs, and deputies found Scholz shot and lying in the road outside his home. Emergency medical personnel were called, but Scholz was pronounced dead at the scene, the probable-cause statement said.
Capt. Gary Higginbotham of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office told the Leader at the time that Scholz was shot more than once.
There were at least two witnesses to the shooting, including Scholz’s 16-year-old girlfriend and a local 26-year-old woman. The two females told deputies they were driving earlier that day on Hwy. 30 and spotted Sutterfield, who was 21 at the time, following behind them in a green Mustang, “driving in a careless and imprudent manner” and nearly running them off the road, the report said.
Sutterfield reportedly fired shots in their direction and pulled his car alongside their vehicle and fired more shots in the air before the two females lost him for a while. When the females got to Gravois and Main Street in House Springs, though, Sutterfield was following them again, according to the report.
During the chase, the females contacted Scholz, who told them to go to his home on Redbud Springs, where the fatal shooting occurred. Scholz, holding a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, approached Sutterfield’s car and had a short argument with him before turning and walking away, the witnesses told authorities.
While Scholz was walking toward his mobile home, Sutterfield got out of his car and fired shots at Scholz, who fell to the ground. Then, Sutterfield drove away, with a female passenger in the Mustang, the report said.
A short time after the shooting, deputies went to Sutterfield’s home in the 4700 block of Tina Drive and could see a green Mustang inside the garage. No one would answer the door, though, so there was a four- or five-hour standoff, Higginbotham said.
Eventually, the Sheriff’s Office got a search warrant to enter the home, and the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team was called to the scene. Before entering the home, though, deputies issued a warning that a police dog was going to be sent inside it, and four people came outside “almost immediately,” according to the report.
Sutterfield told law enforcement officers that he had fired shots from his car earlier that day in an effort to get the two females to pull over. He also admitted to shooting Scholz, using a .10-milimeter Glock handgun, the report said.
Video surveillance from the scene corroborated the witnesses’ statements and showed Sutterfield shooting at Scholz, whose back was turned to him. Sutterfield said he fired between four and six shots at Scholz, according to the report.
Sutterfield also said he had an ongoing dispute with Scholz. Sutterfield said Scholz had accused him of stealing from him and had posted negative comments about Sutterfield on Facebook, the report said.
Sutterfield currently is in the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.