Month: October 2025

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 26-year-old Macks Creek man was seriously injured Tuesday afternoon in a crash on Highway 7 in Camden County, just north of Bridge A-4336, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says the man drove a 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer northbound as it went off the road, overturned and hit a guardrail.

The man was brought to Lake Regional Hospital by ambulance. The report says he was wearing a seatbelt.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude called the number of legal guns being carried downtown “shocking” in her statement to Columbia city leaders at Monday night’s council meeting.

“Two of my assistant chiefs worked downtown over the weekend, and the remark that they made to me after the first night was they were absolutely shocked by the number of firearms that were being legally carried downtown,” Schlude said.

This follows what the department is calling proactive enforcement detail in downtown Columbia after a fatal shooting during the University of Missouri’s homecoming weekend. Aiyanna Williams, 21, was killed in the shooting.

CPD along with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office and the University of Missouri Police Department all played a role with approximately 27 law enforcement officers each night participating in the detail.

Schlude cited state gun laws as a factor for the number of guns noticed in the downtown area. In Missouri there’s no law that requires a driver to tell a police officer if they have a gun and officers cannot search a car for a gun without probable cause.

Schlude said on Friday CPD stopped 20 people — that were stopped for various reasons — were found to have guns on them. Schlude said the guns were returned to the people as they did not appear to be “patronizing any businesses downtown.”

“Over the two day, enforcement effort, we did 202 traffic stops, 83 check subjects. We wrote 57 citations. We made 27 custodial arrests, search 19 vehicles, 49 people frisked 17 people and there were 39 non-criminal citations.” Schlude said.

Schlude detailed how one of those arrests was made by CPD’s Street Crimes Unit on Friday. Officers arrested a man with a gun during a traffic stop at Eighth and Cherry streets. Damion Hunt was arrested on suspicion of illegal gun possession. Hunt was convicted of second-degree assault in connection with a 2019 downtown shooting, making him a felon.

Schlude said she was out on patrol Saturday night and on the first traffic stop she saw she said two officers were pulling people out of the car, and had to make a gun ‘safe’ that they had found in the car.

Dale Roberts, a local gun law expert and former head of the Columbia Police Officers’ Association, said that means officers clear the gun of and rounds.

“That means drop the magazine, rack the slide, lock the slide open, sit it down so the ejection port is facing up,” Roberts said.

Roberts said while people don’t have to tell officers they have a gun, it’s the smart thing to do.

“Most criminals are not going to go ‘I got guns in the car’, so a driver who out front says ‘I need to tell you I have a firearm in the car’ is less likely to be a threat to the officer,” Roberts said.

Schlude said CPD officers are constantly on high alert for guns with every interaction, especially downtown.

“They have to have a heightened sense of awareness and obviously concern because there are so many people armed downtown,” Schlude said.

State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) called the guns in Columbia an epidemic.

“There are too many guns on the streets, there are too many guns in the hands of criminals and I understand people want firearms for protection, but with the loose gun laws we have in Missouri, it allows far too many people to have their hands on them,” Tyson Smith said.

Roberts describe how restrictions from state and federal laws could affect an officer’s ability to respond.

“They encounter someone and that person has a handgun, they’re 17 years old or 16 years old, that’s not an offense under state law and the officers can’t really enforce federal law,” Roberts said.

Tyson Smith said gun laws at the state and federal level also contradict who is allowed to possess guns.

“At the state level, you can have a misdemeanor domestic assault and still carry a firearm,” Tyson Smith said. “You can’t do that at the federal level.”

Missouri State Senate Pro-Tem Cindy O’Laughlin (R-Shelbina) said in a statement to ABC 17 News the state needs to focus on enforcing its existing laws and hold violent offenders accountable.

“Restricting law-abiding citizens’ ability to defend themselves does nothing to stop criminals from committing crimes. Missouri’s focus should be on enforcing existing laws and holding violent offenders accountable, not creating new restrictions that punish responsible gun owners. The problem isn’t with citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights, it’s with those who choose to break the law,” the statement reads.

CPD also released a statement Tuesday following Schlude’s statements.

“At no time did the Columbia Police Department detain individuals merely to determine if they were armed, nor did we stop those carrying firearms just to verify if they were doing so lawfully,” the statement read.

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