Man Charged In Show-Me's Sports Bar Shooting

FLORISSANT, MO — Neal Meyers, 54, has been charged with second-degree murder for a shooting that left one man dead and another injured at Show-Me's Sports Bar in Florissant in early February. The Post-Dispatch reported at the time that the shooting resulted from an argument over a dog's weight, with the shooter allegedly telling a skeptical Scott Beary, 43, that his German Shepherd Dog weighed 290 pounds.

Meyers reportedly left after the argument, but soon returned with a gun and turned the disagreement toward his victim's weight instead, calling Beary fat. When Beary confronted him, Meyers shot him four or five times in the chest, according to witnesses.

Beary died as bar patrons struggled to stop his bleeding and subdue Meyers. Another man was injured in the gunfire but survived the shooting.

Meyers was released from police custody a day after the shooting and prosecutors took weeks to decide whether to charge him due to Missouri's "stand your ground" laws, which are meant to protect individuals who use force in self-defense. Critics say those laws often escalate arguments instead, with the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence calling them "shoot first" laws. Similar laws in Florida were invoked to defend George Zimmerman when he shot Trayvon Martin in February 2012.

But after reviewing surveillance video and interviewing almost two dozen witnesses, prosecutors decided they had a case.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch blamed the shooting on the fact that Meyers had a concealed weapon with him during the barroom argument. “It wouldn’t have happened if carrying a concealed weapon was against the law as it used to be,” he said.

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