In the early morning hours of June 5, 2020, the life of 42-year-old Jeffrey Amick, a White male, was cut short in a McKinley Heights alley in Saint Louis, Missouri. Amick was fatally shot by Joshua Lundak, a local bar owner, in an encounter that was captured on surveillance video. The incident marked the culmination of a year-long period of conflict and alleged harassment between the two men.
The fatal encounter began when Lundak, on his way to work, was approached by Amick in the alley.
Following a verbal exchange, Amick threw an object at a building owned by Lundak. In response, Lundak emerged from his vehicle, using his car door as a shield, and shot Amick multiple times with a pistol. The surveillance footage then showed Lundak entering his building, retrieving a shotgun, and shooting the injured and unarmed Amick again.
Following the shooting, Lundak fled the scene but was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. The subsequent legal proceedings revealed a complex history between the two men. Lundak's defense team argued that he acted in self-defense, portraying Amick as a persistent threat who had subjected Lundak and his fiancée to a 'campaign of terror' that included threats, being followed, and having guns pointed at them.
The initial trial in April 2022 ended in a hung jury, with the jurors overwhelmingly leaning towards acquittal, voting 11 to 1 in favor of not guilty. Many of the jurors believed Lundak had acted out of genuine fear for his life. Rather than face a second trial, Lundak later entered an Alford plea to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. This plea allowed him to maintain his innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence for a potential conviction. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
