City official: Road rage led to deadly shooting at south Columbia McDonald’s
Haley Swaino
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Road rage led to a deadly shooting at the McDonald’s on Nifong Boulevard in south Columbia on Sunday afternoon, Office of Violence Prevention administrator D’Markus Thomas-Brown said Monday.
“It was two individuals, not interpersonal, traffic signal parking lot discussion, an altercation, and then followed across the street at McDonald’s to the individual getting shot and killed, and another individual being shot,” Thomas-Brown, who works with the City of Columbia, said. “And so, just road rage that lends itself to a lost life.”
Derek Gonzalez, 32, of Columbia, died at a hospital after he was shot. A second victim was also taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds.
“We have two people who were legal gun owners, and it was just a lack of being able to de-escalate an argument and a situation,” Thomas-Brown said.
Police have not released details about what led up to the shooting. Columbia Police Department Assistant Chief Paul Dickinson said Monday that police were not ready to talk about a possible motive.
Thomas-Brown said incidents like these are largely due to untreated mental health issues.
“For someone to be in fight or flight over a parking spot or a traffic signal is signs of untreated trauma,” Thomas-Brown said. “And that’s what we [the Office of Violence Prevention] hope to be on the front side of, is being able to help people identify their untreated trauma. So it’s not acting out in a situation like this.”
He said if a person is being followed by someone they suspect has road rage, they should drive to a police station.
“Don’t pull over into a parking lot, go to the police station and have them approach you there just because untreated mental health, hyper vigilance, different things like that,” Thomas-Brown said. “We don’t know what individuals would do if they have a perceived altercation.”
The restaurant was closed Sunday after the shooting but reopened on Monday morning.
Thomas-Brown said Columbia residents should not feel unsafe because this was another isolated incident. However, he acknowledged that crossfire is a danger.
“Those are two individuals who had an altercation,” Thomas-Brown said. “A lot of the shootings in Columbia are, ones that have happened as of late, have been isolated events. Crossfire is always a real thing, bullets don’t have names on them, but as far as just the general population, there’s not a lot of danger due to them.”
The shooting happened at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
A person was detained at the scene but was released from custody without charges.
A marketing company representing the local McDonald’s franchise said Monday that it would release a statement about the shooting soon.