The heavily armed Springfield man who panicked shoppers at the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Center on Republic Road said he was conducting "a social experiment" and told his wife he wanted he find out if "Wal-Mart honored the Second Amendment."She did not think that was a good idea.
Dimitriy Andreychenko, 21, has been charged with the felony of making a terroristic threat, which could end up sending him to prison for four years. He is being held in the Greene County Jail on $10,000 bond.
The events at the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Center and Andreychenko's "social experiment" were detailed in the probable cause statement, which is printed below:
On August 8, 2019, officers were dispatched to 1150 W. Republic (Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market0 to reference check a person with a weapon. A white male subject, later identified as Dimitriy Andreychenko, was reported to be walking into the store armed with an AR style rifle slung across his chest and wearing a ballistic vest. It was further reported that Andreychenko had his phone in hand and appeared to be recording as he walked into the store.
As officers were en route to the store, dispatch advised that patrons of the store were evacuating in an attempt to get away from Andreychenko. Dispatch then advised that a patron of the store had Andreychenko at gunpoint outside the building on the east side of the store.
Officers arrived on scene and took Andreychenko into custody without incident. Once Andreychenko was taken into custody, he was found to also be armed with a semi-automatic handgun.
A manager of Wal-Mart stated he heard from an employee that a male was walking into the store with a plate carrier and a rifle. He obsefved Andreychenko walking down the aisles. He directed an employee to pull the fire alarm to get people out of the store. He believed Andreychenko came to the store to shoot people.
Andreychenko started, post-Miranda, he parked at Wal-Mart and started to record himslef with his phone while he was still in the car. He retrieved his body armor from the truck along with his rifle and put in on himself.
He grabbed a shopping cart and walked in the store while recording himself. He stated he was rcording himself in case seombody was going to stop him and tell him to leave.
"I wanted to know if Wal-Mart honored the Second Amendment.:
He stated his intentions were to buy grocery bags and did not intend for anybody to act negataively towards him. The rifle had a loaded magazine, but a round was not chambered. He also had a handgun on his right hip which was loaded with one round in the chamber.
He stated he did not believe people would react the way they did. He said, "This is Missouri. I understand if were somewhere like New York or California, people would freak out."
He said he brought a rifle and body armor due to three recent shootings and a stabbing and he wanted to protect himself. He stated he walked into the store, heard the fire alarm go off and walked out of the store. An individual then pointed a gun at him and told him to put his hands up.
Andreychenko mentioned several past shootings that had occurred He appeared to be referring to a recent mass shooting that occurred at El Paso, Texas at a Wal-Mart where an armed gunman entered the store with a rifle and killed 22 people on 8/3/19.
On 8-4/19, a second mass shooting occurred at Dayton, Ohio where a man shot and killed 10 people. Both shootings were on national and local news throughout the week.
She told him it was not a smart idea.
She told him that people were going to take this seriously due to the recent events (referring to the recent mass shootings in the country). He told her he called multiple Wal-Marts to see if it was. She said he was just an immature boy. She stated he usually keeps a vest and gun in the trunk of his car.
The other day Dimitriy had shown her an article about the recent shooting in El Paso, Texas. The article wa sabout what the shooter said as he fired on civilians.
Anastasia Andreychenko, Dimitriy's sister, stated she received a phone call from Dimitriy at 1509 hours an spoke to him for approximately 12 minutes. She stated that Dimitriy asked her if she would videotape him going into Wal-Mart with a gun. He called it a social experiment on how his Second Amendment right would be respected in a public area.
She told him that it was a bad idea and that she did not want to do that. That was how the conversation ended. She stated she thought it was a bad idea due to the timing and location of the recent shooting in Texas.
Wal-Mart video surveillance showed Andreychenko pulling into the parking lot and parking his vehicle. He exited his vehicle and walked to the rear of it and opened his trunk. He placed a ballistic vest on his person and armed himself with an AR style rifle.
He then walked towards the front of the entrance with a shopping cart and appeared to be recording himself with his cell phone as he did so.
He enetered the store and made his way towards the southeast corner of the building As he was doing so, patrons are seen in the background running away. He then exited the store on the east side of the store.
I believe the defendant poses a danger to the community due to him walking into a Wal-Mart store with a tactical vest and rifle causing panic and the evacuation of the building putting the safety of everyone involved in jeopardy.
The defendant did this knowing of a recent mass shooting that took place in El Paso, Texas, at a local Wal-Mart which 22 people were murdered by a suspect with a rifle.
Due to severity of this incident, officers quickly responded to Wal-Mart. A Battlefield city police officer struck another vehicle as he was running code (emergency lights and sirens) while responding to Wal-Mart. Both the officer and the other driver suffered severe injuries and were transported to the emergency room via ambulance.
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