Month: September 2025

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Prosecutors on Monday proposed reduced charges for a man accused of killing two women in a crash last year ahead of his plea hearing on Tuesday.

Walter Montejo, 27, is charged with two counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, one count of second-degree assault, misdemeanor driving while revoked and driving without insurance. He is being held at the Boone County Jail. Jail records show he is also being held on an immigration detainer.

A filing on Monday shows prosecutors are suggesting Montejo be charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and one account of misdemeanor fourth-degree assault. Montejo’s plea hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Boone County Courthouse.

A filing from Friday says the “case has been resolved.”

Montejo is accused of killing Cindy Helms, 54, of Rockwood, Tennessee, and Melvina Colin, 84, of Broomfield, Colorado, during an Aug. 5, 2024, crash on Interstate 70 in Boone County.

Court documents in previous reporting say Montejo was driving a tractor-trailer when it crossed over the median and hit a U-Haul head-on, killing Helms and Colin.

Click here to follow the original article.

Haley Swaino

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Ethan Jones has owned MindRight Wellness in downtown Columbia for five years. He said he came into work Monday with a heavy heart after shooting on Saturday morning left one student dead and injured two others just a few stores down.

“It’s definitely a heavy energy,” Jones said. “It’s emotional, you know.”

He said the downtown he knows and loves is not the same as it once was.

“I read it on all the Facebook comments, ‘Oh, downtown, you’re going to get shot,’ and all this crazy stuff. But now, people obviously would feel that way for a reason or two,” Jones said.

He said when the sun sets and bar open, that’s when it seems crime is the worst downtown.

“I think over time we’re losing that uniqueness of what downtown is and has and what it was,” Jones said. “And the idea of not being able to have families feel like they could come down here and walk around and hang out and just chill for the day and get good food, have some good retail. Because a lot of people don’t want to come.”

ABC 17 News spoke with many downtown businesses Monday after the shooting, but most did not want to comment on-record about the violence.

City leaders, including Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude, and University of Missouri President Mun Choi came together Monday afternoon to address safety. At that table, was the Downtown Community Improvement District.

ABC 17 News spoke with Executive Director for The District Nickie Davis after the meeting, who said conversations were productive.

“I think that some of the issues that we’re seeing is stuff that’s going to be addressed soon,” Davis said.

Downtown CID houses the Columbia Police Department substation and works closely with them on safety needs.

“We knew that we had issues at bar close, so we bought some light poles with special lighting in them that can raise to daylight level whenever CPD needs them,” Davis said.

At Monday’s meeting, a proposal that Downtown CID had been pushing for was discussed.

“We have been trying to get the city and MU to sign for safety ambassadors at night,” Davis said. “It looks like that hopefully will be moving forward.”

Downtown CID is also pushing for the city to bring back a downtown unit of walking patrol officers. Davis says that was cut in recent years due to funding and staffing shortages.

“Adding more police officers isn’t always the answer. We need to figure out what are other steps, which I think is what CPD and the city are doing,” Davis said.

Davis and many other city leaders are headed to a leadership retreat Tuesday in Columbia, South Carolina, where she says discussions about safety initiatives will continue. The retreat lasts through Thursday.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia police officers were seen searching an area of Mohawk Avenue near Indian Hills Park in northeast Columbia on Monday evening.

Officers put up crime scene tape around 8:20 p.m. and about 10 evidence markers were seen on the ground. An officer at the scene told an ABC 17 News photographer that around 10-15 shots were fired, but property damage had not been observed as of 8:30 p.m. No injuries have been reported.

Police took down the tape and left the area around 9 p.m.

Around a half-dozen Columbia Police Department vehicles were at the scene, along with a Crime Scene Investigation van.

Check back for updates.

Click here to follow the original article.

Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An area attorney is concerned a recent proposal from University of Missouri System President Mun Choi could lead to some people in the city being singled out.

Choi held a press conference on Monday, pushing for city and university leaders to come together to address crime. Choi’s push came after Stephens College student Aiyanna Williams was shot and killed while downtown with friends early Saturday morning.

23-year-old Misael Covarrubias is charged with three counts of first-degree assault, three counts of armed criminal action and a count of unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the shooting.

Choi sent a letter to Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe and City Manager De’Carlon Seewood following Saturday’s shooting, asking the two to take immediate action to combat violence downtown. On Monday, Choi also urged the city to “seriously consider a loitering ordinance.”

“The city also needs to address the safety issues of the homeless population being in the medians,” Choi said. “It’s a safety issue for them as well as well as the drivers in those regions, and I believe that we need to clean up encampments that occur. There are safety hazards as well as an environmental hazard.”

Attorney Dan Viets, who is the president of Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association, said the city has had discussions regarding implementing a loitering ordinance in the past. Viets said he’s worried the presence of one in the city would invite selective and prejudicial enforcement.

“That’s exactly what would happen if we had those ordinances, certain people…people of color primarily would be singled out for enforcement efforts,” Viets said. “The vast majority of others would not and those ordinances are very suspect. Their constitutionality is very questionable and they’ve been stricken in many jurisdictions.”

Viets said he believes the city should ask for data before any changes in law are made.

When asked if he believed a loitering ordinance would be beneficial to Columbia, Seewood said he would need to know the “intent” of the ordinance.

“We have to build an ordinance around what the intent of what we’re trying to do and so looking at ordinances around safety is important and looking at how do we respond to community issues is also important,” Seewood said. “I have to look and see exactly what we’re trying to do and make sure that whatever we do is in the right intent.”

Click here to follow the original article.

Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia city leaders are evaluating its next steps to reduce crime in the city after a Stephens College student was killed in a shooting over the weekend that left two others injured.

University of Missouri System President Mun Choi has called on the city to make a “task force” to deter crime.

However, Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe on Saturday announced on Facebook the creation of a task force.

“I don’t know all the details yet, the idea of the task force was something that President Choi suggested that we do for organizing,” Buffaloe said. “The focus for me has been on the senseless gun violence that ended up with a young, bright women’s death on Friday night,”

“Trying to figure out what this is when they are talking about a task force for me I really would just want to focus on what we need that why I am going to city staff what is it that we need,” Buffaloe added.

Ward 5 Councilman Don Waterman echoed the uncertainty around the task force but voiced support for involving additional law enforcement agencies, including the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

“Because of their proximity to use, yes I think the county needs to have a role,” Waterman said. “One thing I do want to say is that we need to keep in mind there’s not going to be one single solution, it’s going to be a number of things.”

The city already offers the Office of Violence Prevention, that began this year but Waterman claims it more focuses on youth and the next generation.

Buffaloe and Waterman emphasized that despite the tragedy, crime trends overall have improved in recent months.

“That’s why we haven’t had an incident since June 8 downtown because of their proactive policing, and so I just look to them to what resources do they need to do their job,” Buffaloe said.

“Again you see the numbers have gone down, I think the fully staffed police department more police on the streets, presence is working,” Waterman said. “Also the Flock system that we’ve purchases for the police approved for the police, I think those tools that they’re using to begin to address the issues of crime in the city,”

Ward 3 Councilwoman Jacque Sample says everyone needs to come together and come open minded to discussions.

“We have a lot of work to do we need to gather the people who are the experts on how to address these things and create plans that we can implement that are sustainable,” Sample said. “They leave their own personal ideas of what they think is going to be the best success outside of the room, so we can come together and decide what’s going to work for everyone and the tools that we have to be able to use to be effective.”

Buffaloe later wrote in a Facebook on Monday night that the number of shots-fired incidents in the city have been cut nearly in half during the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year.  

“As a result of their proactive policing efforts, city-wide there have been 58 confirmed incidents of shots fired in the first 9 months of 2025, compared to 105 during the same nine month period in 2024,” Buffaloe wrote. “But every incident of shots fired is one incident too many and we know that police presence is only one aspect of preventing and interrupting violence, which is highlighted by the fact that the events this weekend took place with officers directly in the area.”

The mayor also claimed in the post that a key factor in violent crime reduction would be preventing youth from obtaining guns and keeping people who are not allowed to own guns from getting them. Buffaloe, along with other mayors of larger cities in the state, had signed a letter last year asking Gov. Mike Kehoe to ban youth from having guns.

Misael Covarrubias is accused of shooting and killing Stephens College student Aiyanna Williams. He is 23 years old and is charged with three counts of first-degree assault, three counts of armed criminal action and a single count of unlawful use of a weapon. Early court screenings do not show prior convictions for Covarrubias.

Missouri State Highway Patrol data shows that through the first nine months of the year, violent crime has trended downward since 2021 in CPD’s jurisdiction. There have been 307 violent crimes reported so far this year, while 357 were reported through September in 2024, 425 were reported for the same period in 2023, 465 were tallied during 2022’s period and 492 were reported in 2021’s first-nine-month total. Though it should be noted that overall crime appears to be up compared to last year, according to data from CPD.

Click here to follow the original article.