Article updated at 2:46, 3:19 p.m. Wednesday, May 18:
Zachary Michael Sutton, 22, and Monty Ray Amick, 53, both of Lawrence, were the two men killed in a road rage-fueled shooting Tuesday night outside Hy-Vee, according to Lawrence police.
No criminal charges are anticipated for anyone involved in the incident, Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.
Police were dispatched to the parking lot at 9:41 p.m. Tuesday to the reported shooting. One man was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was critically injured and was taken to an area hospital by ambulance, but he later died, police said.
Amick was driving a blue Nissan XTerra Tuesday night, and Sutton was a passenger in a white Ford F-150, according to police. Also in the F-150 were a driver and another passenger, Lockhart said.
There was an interaction between the people in the two vehicles at 23rd and Harper streets, and one vehicle had pursued the other westbound from that intersection to 23rd and Iowa streets, where there was another exchange, Lockhart said.
“The driver of the blue Nissan made a disparaging remark about the loud exhaust on the Ford truck. It just escalated from there, ending up unfortunately in the tragic death of each one of them,” Lockhart said.
“There were disparaging comments going back and forth. There was aggressive driving going back and forth. And it just escalates.”
The incident culminated in the Hy-Vee parking lot at 3504 Clinton Parkway, Lockhart said. Sutton and Amick both got out of the vehicles and fired at each other, Lockhart said. Police collected two handguns at the scene, he said.
There was no known prior relationship between the two men, Lockhart said.
Police have footage from cameras at Hy-Vee and another business in the strip mall, Lockhart said. Investigators interviewed the driver and passenger of the F-150, an employee of the store and a bystander who had rendered aid.
The investigation was ongoing as of early Wednesday afternoon, according to police.
Lockhart said if you find yourself in a road rage situation, “get out of it as quickly as you can.”
“That means turning left or right when they go straight. If you have to pull over, if somebody’s tailgating you, just get out of their way and let them go by,” he said. “Don’t continue escalating to the point where it ends up in a confrontation in a parking lot.”
Police ask anyone who witnessed the altercation or shooting or who has information on this incident to call the investigations unit at 785-830-7430 or Crime Stoppers of Lawrence and Douglas County at 785-843-TIPS (8477). Tips to Crime Stoppers can be anonymous.
“We’re asking folks if you were on 23rd Street between Harper and Kasold, or if you were in the parking lot and you saw a white Ford truck with loud exhaust and a blue Xterra, give us a call. We need that information,” Lockhart said.
Tuesday’s shooting resulted in the second and third homicides in Lawrence within two days.
On Monday, 25-year-old Regan Gibbs was killed at the apartment where she lived with her husband. He was arrested at the scene and has been charged with first-degree murder.
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