On a Saturday night in April 2022, a tragic event unfolded near the Des Moines International Airport that resulted in the death of Patrick Burton, a 53-year-old African American man from Kansas City, Missouri. Just before 8:30 p.m. on April 23rd, police and fire personnel responded to a call on the 1900 block of Hackley Avenue. They arrived to find Burton with a life-threatening gunshot wound to his head.
Burton was inside a vehicle at the time he was shot.
He was reportedly attempting to exit the car from the passenger's seat when he was shot in the back of the head. Another individual was present in the driver's seat of the car during the incident. Emergency responders rushed Burton to the hospital in critical condition, but he succumbed to his injuries and passed away early the next morning. His death marked the seventh homicide in the city of Des Moines for the year 2022.
At the scene of the shooting, police took a suspect into custody without incident. The individual was identified as 24-year-old Eric Lewis Stricklin of West Des Moines. Authorities recovered a gun and a shell casing from the location, and nearby surveillance footage reportedly captured the shooting as it happened inside the vehicle. When detectives attempted to question Stricklin, he invoked his right to remain silent.
Initially, Stricklin was charged with attempted murder. However, following Burton's death on Sunday morning, the charge was upgraded to the more severe count of first-degree murder. The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting continued as the legal process against the suspect began.
