A 39-year-old Galesburg man was found shot dead inside a Cottage Avenue home on Thursday afternoon, and a 52-year-old man found a few blocks away has been charged with first-degree murder, the Galesburg Police Department said.
Officers responded at approximately 2:31 p.m. on Thursday, November 12, to the 200 block of Cottage Avenue following reports of shots fired. Inside a residence, they found Richard Garza Jr., 39, with gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said in an update released Friday morning.
Source: Galesburg Police Department via Galesburg Community News
Television station WQAD, covering the Quad Cities region, likewise reported that officers responding to the 200 block of Cottage Avenue on Thursday found an adult man with gunshot wounds who was declared dead at the scene, and that a suspect was taken into custody.
The arrest a few blocks away
Police said the suspect, Joshua Newburn, 52, was located in the 500 block of Mulberry Street and taken into custody a short time after the initial call — only a few blocks from the Cottage Avenue scene.
Newburn has been charged with first-degree murder, with additional charges pending, police said. He is being held in the Knox County Jail awaiting court proceedings. A charge is an allegation that a court has not yet tested, and Newburn has not been convicted.
The Galesburg Police Department says it believes the shooting was an isolated incident, with no ongoing threat to the public.
Who is investigating
The investigation is ongoing. The Galesburg Police Department said it was assisted by the Illinois State Police Crime Scene Unit, the Knox County Sheriff's Department, the Illinois State Police and the Knox County Coroner's Office, which is involved in establishing the circumstances of Garza's death.
Background: what the first-degree murder charge means
In Illinois, first-degree murder is the state's most serious homicide charge. Filing it means prosecutors and police are alleging an intentional killing; the charge must still be proved in court, where Newburn will have the opportunity to answer it. Police have not, in the reports so far, released a motive, described any relationship between the two men, or said what weapon was recovered.
Galesburg is the county seat of Knox County in western Illinois. The shooting happened on residential blocks — Cottage Avenue and Mulberry Street, a short distance apart — in the middle of a Thursday afternoon, which is why the police statement stressing that the incident was isolated matters to neighbours who heard the shots and saw the search that followed.
What happens next
Newburn remains in the Knox County Jail awaiting court proceedings, and police say additional charges are pending. The coroner's work and the State Police crime-scene examination form part of the evidence that will be tested as the case moves through the Knox County courts. Anyone with information is normally asked to contact the Galesburg Police Department as the investigation continues.