What drives friends to murder?

SHERBURNE – Police continue to investigate and follows leads into what caused a fatal fight between two friends in Sherburne over the weekend.
Kallin P. Richards, 24, New Berlin, was shot and killed by a friend, Joshua T. Story, 23, of 33 Classic St., early Saturday morning at Sherburne Meadows Apartments as he attempted to drive away in his 2000 Ford Explorer.
Sheriff Thomas Loughren said yesterday that Story made an oral confession to investigators.
“He admitted some things orally and verbally confessed to being the one to pull the trigger,” confirmed Lt. James E. Lloyd.
The deadly dispute between the two men may have originated over Story questioning whether Richards was sober enough to drive home, said police.
“It was part of it. There were certainly other things. These two men obviously knew each other, and their confrontation was emotional as much as it was anything else and they lost their temper. It’s a thing we’ve seen before; it’s drinking and a gun being too accessible. If there was no gun available that night, then this call would have most likely been the routine weekend fight,” said Lloyd.
The blood alcohol test results for Story and Richards have not yet been released. Story’s gun is legally owned and was removed by investigators following a search of his apartment.
The crime allegedly took place just after 2:30 a.m. in the parking lot outside of Story’s apartment complex.
“Our investigation revealed that a physical confrontation had occurred between the deceased and a resident of the apartment complex in the parking lot just prior to the shooting,” said Loughren.
“Basically it seems one guy lost the fight and was so upset, angry, he decided to escalate the confrontation by getting a gun,” said Lloyd.
The victim and defendant were friends, according to the victim’s family. The two men also worked together at Baillie Lumber in Smyrna for the past six months.
Loughren said the two men had spent the night drinking together at a local bar and were playing cards at Story’s apartment prior to the murder. An unidentified third person was also with the two men Saturday night, and Loughren said they were the only “direct witnesses to the crime.”
That witness aided in breaking up a fight in the parking lot between Richards and Story just prior to the shooting.
Richards is a lifetime resident of the area, but Story moved to Chenango from Tennessee less than a year ago, said police. Police confirmed that Richards had a criminal history in the area but said Story had not gotten into any local trouble since moving here. Investigators are currently looking into his record in Tennessee, said Lloyd.
Richards was killed immediately by a single 12-gauge round that damaged his heart and liver. Police discovered him dead in his vehicle as it rested against a tree. Story was apprehended about an hour later without incident, said Lloyd. He was still in his apartment with his girlfriend and 2-month-old child. Police said that they were also present in the apartment at the time of the incident.
Story was arraigned in the Town of Sherburne Court at 2:15 p.m. Saturday before Justice Jim Peptis, and public defender John D. Cameron was assigned as his counsel. He was remanded to the county jail, and because he is charged with a class A felony, he will be ineligible for bail until he appears in county court. Before appearing in county court however, Story is scheduled to appear at 7 p.m. Thursday in Village of Sherburne Court for a felony hearing.
“When I got the call at home, we had a confirmed homicide and no suspect at an apartment complex filled with a lot of people. The first officers on the scene, deputies and the Norwich police, did a great job of securing and isolating witnesses, because you don’t want them talking to each other. The troopers also were there and aided in securing three different crime scenes, the truck and body, the area where the gun was fired and later in the apartment where we found the gun. It went very smoothly as these things go and by the time I arrived at the location, we had the who, the what and the where,” said Lloyd.
Police have not substantiated a link between this case and the state and federal trial of Corbin Douglas of Madison County, who was accused of fatally overdosing his 14-month-old son with morphine in a baby bottle. Richards was a key witness in that trial and is the second person tied to the case to be killed with a shotgun in Sherburne. In July, Joshua Richheimer, 32, of Butternuts, who was a witness in the federal trial, was killed attempting to rob a Sherburne home while allegedly looking for drugs.

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