23-year-old pleads guilty in deadly July 2022 Frogtown shooting

Payton Wood, 23, entered a guilty plea Wednesday in connection with a fatal shooting on July 1, 2022 in Frogtown.

He had been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 59-year-old Jeffrey Foss. According to court documents, Wood entered a guilty plea to the unintentional murder charge on Wednesday. In return, the intentional murder charge will be dismissed at a future sentencing hearing.

As previously reported, Foss was found lying face-down in a pool of blood in the early hours of July 1 near the intersection of Dale Street North and Thomas Avenue West.

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Investigators learned that Wood and a friend arrived at a picnic area, which was occupied by Foss and another man.

There were empty liquor bottles and cigarette packs on the tables and Wood told the two men that the trash was “their stuff.”

The man who was with Foss joked about cleaning up the mess and then Wood “took a swing” at him, according to court documents. The man who was with Foss put Wood into a chokehold, before releasing him and puncturing the tire of Wood’s car with a knife.

The man with the knife said he told Foss to run and then heard a gunshot.

Wood turned himself in a few days later and told investigators that he fired his gun because he thought the man with the knife was going to stab him, according to court documents. He also said he discarded the gun in the Mississippi River and then returned to the scene to find out from police what had happened.

Court officials say that Wood didn’t have a permit to carry a firearm.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 12.