Month: August 2026

Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) –

While more individual voting precincts in Columbia voted against Proposition 1, big turnout in parts of west Columbia powered the measure to pass.

Results for Proposition 1, the 1% increase in Columbia’s sales tax to help fund public safety, analyzed by ABC 17 News, show the race stayed tight across town. The city’s six wards split evenly for the measure. The First, Second and Third wards ultimately voted against it, while the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth wards voted for it.

Precinct results also stayed close. Nineteen precincts voted against Prop 1, 18 voted for it and one precinct in the Fifth Ward ended in a tie. The only two precincts whose leading result was greater than 60% were both in Ward 1, with the rest coming in between 50% and 59%.

The Boone County Clerk’s Office released more data on the August election results after certification on Monday. That includes precinct-level results, which show how specific areas of the county voted on different measures. Only two precincts shared voters from different wards.

The Fourth Ward produced the highest total votes cast for the race, as well as the biggest margin of victory for Proposition 1. The measure won in that ward by 534 votes, with 4,604 in favor and 4,064 against it. That ward, which covers parts of central, west and southwest Columbia, also featured a contested city council race on the ballot.

The First Ward, which comprises most of central Columbia and downtown, came back with the biggest margin against Proposition 1, with 331 more “no” votes than “yes.” That ward also had the lowest total turnout with 2,391 people casting ballots there.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

After a couple of high-profile incidents on East Walnut Street in downtown Columbia, University of Missouri System President Mun Choi is asking city leaders to take action against a downtown Columbia bar.

Emails from Choi, which were provided to ABC 17 News by an MU spokesman, date back to April 19, after video of a downtown fight was shared online. Choi had addressed the email to Mayor Barbara Buffaloe and City Manager De’Carlon Seewood. Choi had linked an April 11 fight on Walnut Street to an April 19 incident in Iowa City – the hometown of the University of Iowa.

Choi’s April 19 email demanded that the city hire more police officers and staff a downtown unit, while calling a portion of Walnut Street “a danger zone.” That email was sent two weeks after Police Chief Jill Schlude announced the planned downtown unit launch would be delayed because of staffing issues.

Buffaloe had responded in an email to Choi, indicating “I know that they had been in talks with the business owner, who you also see in the video breaking up the fight, about what was needed to improve that block’s safety.”

Buffaloe also wrote in her April 20 response that “Besides this incident on the 11th, I had not heard of an incident happening in this block for months.

Choi sent emails to Seewood, Buffaloe, all City Council members and Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson on July 27, the day after a brawl occurred on Walnut and Ninth streets that led to seven people being arrested. At least one person was charged with a felony.

“I have lived here since ‘94 and I think this is the worst that I have seen it when it comes to crime,” Demetria Stephens told ABC 17 News. 

Choi specifically named Reign Bar in a follow-up email on Aug. 9. Reign Bar opened in October 2025, according to business information filed with the Secretary of State’s Office.

“It happened again at Walnut and 9th Streets. We continue to experience violent fights and gunfire outside Reign Bar. How many warnings about this establishment do you need to hear before meaningful action is taken?” Choi wrote in one of the emails addressed to Buffaloe, Seewood and Ward 1 Councilwoman Valerie Carroll on Aug. 9.  

“He [Choi] might want to be careful because if you’re going to single out one bar, we need to look at the whole downtown district,  because I know for a fact, years past recent time, of watching individuals entering bars on Broadway and I know they’re underage,” Stephens said. 

Similar wording was used by Choi in a July 27 email.

“It happened again. I am gravely concerned about what is happening in our city. Please provide more resources for police in downtown Columbia by prioritizing public safety over non-essential investments. A greater presence of police officers, technologies, moral support, and effective prosecution will send a strong message for deterrence,” the July 27 email from Choi says. “Without it, we’ll face continued violence and some with more tragic consequences like the incident at Iowa City downtown on April 19, 2026 that ended in gunshots with 5 injured including 3 University of Iowa students.”

“It’s just frustrating this stuff has been going on before we even opened and we get the blame,” Jerrion Nelson, general manager of Reign Bar, told ABC 17 News on Monday. “The big fight that happened, those are people that don’t come inside.” 

Nelson has extensive experience in Columbia’s bar industry. His grandfather owned Lou’s Lounge in Columbia, and after playing college football, Nelson returned to the city and worked security at MyHouse for six years.

After spending more than half a decade working in and around Columbia’s bar scene, Nelson believes Reign Bar has been unfairly targeted by Choi. He said other bars have experienced similar issues that Choi has not addressed and that he believes those problems have been swept under the rug.

The biggest issue he says is not the bars or the business owners, but underage drinking and open containers. 

“I literally walk outside after we close and clean up, and probably 15 bottles of liquor, like fifth bottles, are just outside from people. We got the police sitting across the street. They’re not even getting open container tickets or anything,” Nelson said. “CPD just needs to enforce the rules. I hate to be like that but we have to at this point, because it’s affecting everybody. It’s not just affecting one group of people. This is how I feed my family.” 

No gunshots were heard in video of the July 26 incident that circulated on social media, and police have not said that gunshots were fired. Though felony charges were filed against a man accused of firing a gun on Aug. 9 at the same intersection.

“I implore you to take appropriate action to hold this establishment, and any other establishment contributing to these conditions, accountable. The recurring violence demonstrates that the owner is NOT taking adequate steps to maintain a safe environment,” Choi wrote in his Aug. 9 email.

Nelson says that Reign Bar takes steps to make sure it is a safe environment, which includes contracting security out of St. Louis. 

“I believe that young man is doing a great job. The first night that he was open, myself and a best friend of mine, we went in there, and we spent about an hour-and-a-half in his bar,” Stephens said. “He has security. He is placing bracelets on individuals that are underage. So he’s doing the work.”

The City of Columbia says it can only take action against a liquor license holder after an alleged violation, proper notice, and a hearing to determine whether the license holder failed to meet the requirements or standards outlined in city ordinance.

The city also said it is working with downtown bars to ensure they operate in compliance with city ordinances and codes.

In a statement to ABC 17 News, city spokesman Christopher Ave said no violations have been alleged against any businesses in the area, including Reign Bar, in connection with Sunday morning’s incident.

Ave said the incident occurred outside the property of any bar and that nearby officers heard gunshots and arrested a suspect shortly afterward. He added the area has been the site of early morning gatherings before Reign Bar opened.

“The area of this incident and an earlier fistfight has been the site of early-morning gatherings since before the Reign Bar opened for business,” Ave wrote.

In August 2025, Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude had noted a “hot spot” for gun violence shifted from the 900 block of East Broadway in 2024 to the 800 block of Walnut Street in 2025, previous reporting shows. Multiple incidents were reported in the 700 and 800 blocks of East Walnut that spring and summer.

Stephens spoke of enforcing loitering in the area.

“In all of those incidents and locations, they should be focusing on the loitering. If you’re going to talk about individuals hanging out, fighting, whatever the case may be, let’s talk about it. But let’s not target,” Stephens said.  “It’s happening on the sidewalks. And what happens in the streets and the sidewalks belong to the city of Columbia.” 

Choi also accused Johnson of giving “violent perpetrators a slap on the wrist” while including five links to local media reporting on sentences for various crime stories.

ABC 17 News has filed a request for additional emails following the July 26 downtown incident.

Check back for updates.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man was charged with a felony after a child shot off part of their own finger on Thursday.

Dontay Palmer, 29, was charged first-degree child endangerment. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. An arraignment was held on Monday and a confined docket hearing was scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18. A preliminary hearing was also set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 24.

The probable cause statement says deputies were called to University Hospital after a child had a gunshot wound that led to them missing part of their left index finger. Palmer allegedly told deputies that the child was left alone in a living room and lit a firework with a burning candle, the statement says.

Another person told deputies that Palmer allegedly told them the youth shot off their finger, court documents allege.

Deputies went to the home and allegedly found a blood trail to a bedroom and four guns, one of which was near a high char, the statement says. Blood was seen in the high chair and deputies noted a spent shell casing was found, the statement says.  

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Police say doorbell camera footage and digital data have become essential tools in investigations like the one into the 2021 killing of James Hundle.

“In neighborhoods like this, there’s lots of cameras everywhere. Ring doorbell footage, that’s different for this case,” said CPD Lead Criminal Investigator Lt. Matt Gremore. “And this was in 2021. So, I mean, technology is kind of advanced by that time.”

Officers found 52-year-old Hundle dead with a gunshot wound in the 4800 block of Marble Cedars Drive on the morning of Oct. 13, 2021. Hundle was assistant to the vice chancellor and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri when he was killed. He was also an adviser to an agriculture fraternity, Alpha Gamma Rho.

Gremore would not say how many times Hundle was shot or whether a gun was recovered, but he was able to confirm it was not a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

During their investigation, police have requested information on Hundle’s security system from Tiger Security, interviewed hundreds of people and collected multiple pieces of digital data and video, according to Gremore.

“We did a ton of research into technology data all down this entire street of all four corners,” Gremore said.

Police were searching for more information about a car seen on Ring doorbell footage in the preliminary days of the investigation, but Gremore would not elaborate in a recent interview.

“I can’t get into the vehicle of whether or not that is the suspect vehicle, but what I can tell you is in this case, we do have persons of interest,” Gremore said.

Other cases covered in Mid-Missouri’s Cold Case files have not had the utility of digital data.

Virginia “Ginger” Davis was found dead in her home on the morning of June 6, 1994, with blunt force trauma to her head and evidence of suffocation.

Ring cameras did not hit the market until 2012-13, so much of the evidence police had to go off on in Davis’ case was collected from the scene. To this day, no one has been arrested in her death.

Officers have been able to narrow down a timeline of interest with the evidence they’ve collected through the last five years, including doorbell and surveillance footage.

Police asked Tiger Security Services for “all sensor activations, arm and disarm of the security system” from Oct. 6 to Oct. 14. Gremore further narrowed down three dates in that week they believe could be crucial to finding answers.

“Anybody that had any conversations [with Hundle] from Oct. 11 through the 13th could be very beneficial,” Gremore said.

Even with their benefits, Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson detailed how Ring doorbell and other security systems could pose challenges.

“I’ve seen it happen where you have maybe a Ring camera in the area that would have recorded whatever it was that happened, but because that camera wasn’t part of the subscription package, or whatever it was, it doesn’t store,” Thompson said.

Thompson also noted the recent shooting death investigation of Erik Spencer, where cameras were recording on buildings nearby, but none of the footage proved helpful. Spencer was shot and killed in the parking lot near the Old Navy on Missouri Boulevard in November by a bystander during a fight with his girlfriend.

“No surveillance footage really captured much of anything that happened, and at that point we had to rely on bits and pieces of footage that was taken by passersby,” Thompson said. “While that’s somewhat helpful, it’s not always the full story.”

Nonetheless, Thompson praised the usefulness of surveillance footage and video of any kind from or related to a crime in investigations and in court.

“Cameras, when we’re able to get footage of the actual incident itself, oftentimes are pretty crucial in helping us determine what actually transpired,” Thompson said. “The defendant might have one version of what happened, the victim or a witness might have another version.”

Thompson also talked about the use of Flock cameras, as an ongoing debate continues to grow nationwide.

“Flock cameras have helped take a lot of fentanyl off the streets. Flock cameras have helped to place murderers at crime scenes,” Thompson said. “While I do understand folks having concerns about their privacy and feeling like they’re being watched, there are benefits to their use, if they’re used appropriately.”

NPR and other national outlets show a growing number of cities have canceled their contracts with Flock, and CNN reported earlier this year that Ring had backed out of its partnership with Flock. A national tracker of Flock contract cancellations lists dozens of communities that have ended agreements amid concerns over privacy, data sharing and law enforcement access.

Two University of Missouri students brought those concerns to the Columbia City Council on July 20, questioning what information the cameras can collect, who can access it and how long that information remains available.

The Columbia City Council had voted 5-2 in favor of implementing Flock cameras on Oct. 7, 2024.

Similar concerns have also fueled a local grassroots effort. Krista Murray-Salisbury, founder of Get The Flock Out Of Columbia, said she first became interested in the technology after noticing a series of new cameras while driving through Columbia. 

Thompson honed in on the importance of using the cameras for the right reasons.

“People shouldn’t just be watching citizens go about their day-to-day for no reason,” Thompson said. “If you’re going to be utilizing Flock cameras, it ought to be for, you know, ‘I have this suspect of this crime, and I’m going to use this Flock camera to find that person.'”

Flock cameras were recently used in the case of a man accused of killing his romantic partner and disposing of her body in a trash bin that was found in a creek.

Andrew Acton is accused of strangling or smothering the 47-year-old woman sometime between Oct. 1, 2025, and May 10, 2026. He was arrested after investigators matched the truck he was driving to surveillance video that showed the truck hauling the trash bin near Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area.

Columbia has 114 Flock cameras, according to the department’s transparency portal. In July, the system detected 988,338 vehicles and recorded 505 searches.

Columbia Police said its use of Flock is subject to safeguards. The department’s 2025 surveillance report says searches of the system require a documented justification or case number and that user activity is logged. The department says Flock data is automatically deleted after 30 days unless retention is extended under agency policy or legal requirements. CPD also says it only shares data with other law enforcement agencies within Missouri.

Watch “Mid Missouri’s Cold Case Files: The Murder of James Hundle,” Wednesday at 6 p.m. on KMIZ.

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Melissa Houston

LAKE OZARK, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Lake Ozark Board of Aldermen on Tuesday unanimously approved a youth curfew, prohibiting anyone younger than 18 from being on the Bagnell Dam Strip after 11 p.m. without a guardian.

The ordinance will stretch from the Lake Ozark Christian Church to the Bagnell Dam Strip and last from 11 p.m.-5 a.m.

The vote was delayed at the board’s June 28 meeting. The vote was pushed back after a proposal to change the curfew start time from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. There was also discussion about businesses with employees under 18 and protecting minors who work in restaurants on the Bagnell Dam Strip from penalties after curfew starts. These propositions caused a delay in the vote, and the aldermen will now vote to either approve or deny the ordinance.

The board approved the change in start time and included exceptions for minors, allowing them to be in the strip for legitimate reasons, such as work.

Aldermen said the reason for the ordinance was due to “the City [seeing] an increase in disorderly conduct, disturbances to the peace, minors engaged in illicit drug and alcohol usage, and other delinquency issues during evening and early morning hours in the City’s Central Business District,” according to the city’s ordinance.

The purpose is to curb the issues the city says are rising with unaccompanied minors out after certain hours.

Lake Ozark Police Chief Jason Boren said the ordinance is meant to protect minors late at night when the area transitions into an adult entertainment area.

“We’ve seen many times where you have a juvenile, 16 or 17,  maybe even 15, that’s down there,” Boren said. “And maybe they don’t have the maturity to just not say something to a drunk adult and some sort of altercation, even if it’s just verbal or sometimes it is a physical altercation.”

Boren added a youth curfew is common among other popular tourist spots, and it is not meant to add strict rules for youth, but instead to ensure their safety and prevent potential violence with intoxicated adults.

“And this is not something that is uncommon,” Boren said. “You can go all over the country to vacation areas like Lake of the Ozarks, and you see this very same thing in place on a large scale in many, many other areas. And I think it’s a common-sense approach.

Under the new ordinance, a first offense results in a warning and subsequent offenses carry a fine of $500.

Lake Ozark Mayor David Ridgely said because of the concerns from business owners, the city will be monitoring the curfew’s impact on local businesses.

“If this ordinance is affecting business and not helping the problem, then we’ll make some changes,” Ridgely said.

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