Missouri attorney shot dead on his porch as man he recently defeated in court is tied to case

KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Kansas City police on Thursday were at the home of a man who had recently lost a $5.75 million judgment won by an attorney who was shot to death on the front porch of his home.

Friends identified the victim as Tom Pickert, 39, who reportedly had just returned home after walking his children to school near their house in Kansas City's Brookside neighborhood.

Pickert's wife called police just around 8 a.m. Wednesday after hearing gunshots and finding her husband fatally wounded.

Police not release any suspect information but said they do not think others are in danger. Several people contacted police after the shooting to express concern about their own safety, police said.

Shortly after the shooting police asked for help finding a white 1997 Chevrolet van with Missouri license 6FA 453. By late afternoon, police found the van in Raytown _ unoccupied.

Police spoke with the van's owner at police headquarters and then let the man leave.

They have the van in police custody and are processing it for evidence.

Pickert was an attorney for the firm Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger LLC in Kansas City. The shooter may have walked up to him and shot him at close range. A car was heard speeding away immediately after the shooting.

Pickert won a $5.75 million judgment this summer against a businessman who had shot a homeless man on his property. Last week, Jackson County court officials started the process of seizing the man's real estate to pay the judgment. The court filed paperwork that would prevent the man from selling or transferring the property.

Police spent Wednesday searching the man's suburban residence and a business he owned in Kansas City.

Police were at the home on Thursday.

Sgt. Kari Thompson would not say whether Pickert had been threatened before the shooting. She would not say whether the people who contacted police worried about their safety were attorneys who had dealt with the man whose home police are searching.

As a personal injury attorney, Pickert focused on medical malpractice, nursing home and long-term care abuse cases, according to his biography on his firm's website.