A man serving time for a July 31, 1976 shooting death in Keokuk passed away Monday evening in a hospice room of the Iowa State Penitentiary.
The Iowa Department of Corrections said Ular Lee Winfun died of natural causes. He was 66.
Winfun had been serving a life sentence for Murder in the First Degree.
Newspaper accounts from the time said Winfun walked into the Six Pack Tavern on Main Street and shot Morris Green six times with a pistol.
Green died a short time later at a local hospital.
Both men were from Arkansas. Information included in an Iowa Supreme court opinionsaid Winfun and Green had been co-workers on a painting crew in the Keokuk area. The two had gotten into a scrap the day before, leaving Winfun with rib injuries that were described as “not serious.”
The court document also said that after the shooting, “(Winfun) left the tavern, walked to the Keokuk Police Station, and surrendered himself. He made certain statements to the police. Among other things he said he ‘had to shoot the boy’ and ‘after I thought about what he did to me, I pulled the gun and shot him until the gun was empty.’”
