Flatonia postmaster charged with murder after shooting victim dies

Flatonia postmaster Michael Joseph McKim has been charged with murder now that the man he shot in the head last month — 47-year-old Jason Pete Pilat of Shiner — has died.

McKim, 44, was arrested March 22 by Lavaca County Sheriff’s investigators and the Texas Rangers and is now free after posting $500,000 bond. He had originally been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the March 5 incident and had posted a $100,000 bond at that time.

Pilat died Friday, March 17, at University Hospital in San Antonio, where he had been in critical condition and clinging to life since the shooting. Pilat’s only daughter is Waelder High School volleyball and track coach Mackinly Pilat Kifer, who had gotten married just seven weeks before her father’s death.

According to Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon, a 911 call came to his department from a rural residence in the 3400 block of Highway 90-A, east of Shiner, at 12:53 a.m. Sunday, March 5. Deputies arrived to find Pilat unconscious in the front yard of his home and suffering from a single gunshot wound to the head, while McKim was seated and awaiting their arrival.

What investigators were able to piece together is that McKim had been trying to locate his wife Jennifer. McKim had his own adult daughter with him, using her cellphone’s locater app to track down his spouse, who was inside Pilat’s home with her vehicle parked outside.

Upon finding her car, McKim allegedly retrieved a 9mm handgun from his wife’s car, walked up to the front door and pounded on it, demanding entry. His wife allegedly tried to exit the home through a back door and get into her vehicle to leave, but before she could, Pilat came out the front door and an altercation ensued. It started as a shouting match and ended with a single gunshot fired by McKim.

EMS could not airlift Pilat to the hospital due to low-lying fog, instead having to drive him to University Hospital by ambulance.