Man charged, woman arrested in connection with fatal shooting near Springfield McDonald's

After Richard Gaines and his girlfriend attended the Juicy J rap concert on a Monday night in November, they were hungry.

According to court records, his girlfriend drove them to the McDonald's on West Kearney Street.

Gaines allegedly brought a bottle of brandy and a .45-caliber handgun.

His girlfriend, Amanda Kay Harris, would later tell police that it was not uncommon for Gaines to randomly shoot his gun while intoxicated, documents show.

The 26-year-old Springfield man became agitated with the staff at McDonald's, police say, and he broke the brandy bottle on the pavement.

When the couple became aware the staff was calling 911, documents show, they sped away from the McDonald's.

They hadn't made it far when Gaines allegedly told Harris to stop.

That's when police say Gaines climbed partly out of the window, and several shots rang out.

Harris drove them to her home, court records show, and later that morning she showed him a news article: 28-year-old Zachary Zumwalt was dead.

The News-Leader requested police records involving Zumwalt and found he was named in two incident reports since August in connection with drugs, including heroin. The incidents allegedly took place at a gas station and a McDonald's — both on West Chestnut Expressway.

Gaines was arrested and charged Friday with second-degree murder for killing Zumwalt early in the morning of Nov. 21, police say.

Harris was booked into the Greene County Jail Friday morning. As of Friday evening, she had not been charged with a crime.

According to a probable cause statement filed by police, Zumwalt had been sitting in a silver sedan with his girlfriend, using the wireless internet provided by the McDonald's.

The statement said his girlfriend heard gunfire, felt something warm across her back and told Zumwalt to get down.

Zumwalt responded that he'd been hit.

CPR was attempted in the parking lot, the statement said, and Zumwalt was taken to a hospital, where he died.

By Zumwalt's car, police would later find what appeared to be a bullet fired from a different caliber gun, the statement said.

The police officer wrote: "It should be noted that a projectile was located just outside Zumwalt's driver door that appeared to have come from Zumwalt when he was removed from the vehicle."

The statement said police reviewed surveillance footage, spoke with witnesses and used police resources to determine that Harris was possibly the driver of the car that sped away from the McDonald's.

After being arrested Friday, Harris allegedly told police that Gaines had threatened violence against her and her family if she told anyone about what happened that night.

Court records show Gaines has committed several felonies, starting in 2008 when police said Gaines — then 17 — struck a man in the back of the head with a tree branch as part of a robbery committed by a group of people.

According to court records, Gaines was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2012 after he sold crack cocaine to an undercover Springfield detective on three separate occasions.

Court documents show he was paroled in January.

Officers taped off an area approximately the size of a football field off West Kearney as they investigated the shooting the morning of Nov. 21. The area covered the parking lot next to the McDonald's and extended south along Johnston Avenue.

Gaines is currently being held in the Greene County Jail without bond.

Court records show he was charged with second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm.