Month: September 2026

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

EDITOR’S NOTE: The story has been corrected to reflect that the person involved was not an MU student.

The University of Missouri said Thursday that it is investigating a person for comments made during a Turning Point USA “Pick up the Mic” session on Speakers Circle.

During the session Wednesday hosted by Shane Winnings, Chloe Carter came to the mic to discuss the First and Second Amendments.

“It is worth it to have a couple gun deaths every couple years to keep our Second Amendment right,” Carter said.

Winnings responded with “I agree.”

The conversation then moved to talk about Charlie Kirk when the person said that Charlie Kirk would have agreed and “died by his word.”

Winnings then said that Kirk died with the same mindset, calling it a conviction, and recommended the student “finds out what that means one day.”

Winnings asked if Carter was “for people being killed for freedom of speech.”

Carter responded with “yeah, absolutely.”

In a social media post, the university commented that it will investigate Carter and will “hold the individual to account.” An MU spokesperson later said that Carter is not a student and has been trespassed from campus.

Zach Greenberg, Director of faculty legal defense with the FIRE organization, said that the First Amendment protects any discussions of violence. The only time it does not, is when it falls into a category of true threat.

“The First Amendment protects, calls for violence, discussions of violence, even justifications for the moral propriety of violence,” said Greenberg. “It protects speech unless it falls into the narrow protected category of a true threat: the serious intent to commit unlawful violence, direct, imminent, specific.”

Greenberg said technically Carter’s comments did not violate the First Amendment; however, the university trespassing on Carter could be a violation of her First Amendment rights because it is a government state university.

“I think that’s a punishment that government inflicting for the exercise of someone’s free speech rights, so their student are not student you shouldn’t be punished for expressing yourself,” said Greenberg.

Carter could potentially take legal action against the university for being trespassed from a public campus, according to Greenberg.

“I think if the university were to say to ban the speaker from campus, you know, maybe a no-contact order, or a trespass order, it would be problematic if it’s based on the students’ or the speaker’s protected speech,” said Greenberg.

The university says the Columbia Police Department and FBI have been contacted, in addition to the University of Missouri Police Department.

“We denounce any form of violence, and it is totally unacceptable to wish harm upon a person for exercising their First Amendment rights. This is a very serious matter for which we’ve launched a full investigation. We will hold the individual to account,” the university stated in a social media post.

State Sen. Stephen Webber (D-Columbia) criticized Carter’s statements in an X post.

“This is deeply sick behavior (and so were the words). If you see someone acting like this at Mizzou (or anywhere) you should absolutely call them out for it,” Webber wrote.

Carter said that she knew she was taking a risk stepping up to the mic, but did not realize how far people would take the backlash.

“I didn’t expect the situation to get quite this large. I knew that what I was doing was provocative and that there would be some kind of backlash, but this has really caught on in right-wing social media,” said Carter. “Honestly, the worst part is that people are coming after everyone associated with me as well.”

Carter criticized the backlash, saying that right-wing media figures frequently talk about and celebrate violence, such as the death of George Floyd, Israel’s attacks in Palestine and shooting deaths tied to ICE agents.

“These are the people who were anti-cancel culture in the late 2010s and the people who are supposedly the strongest supporters of the first amendment, but you see them here calling for me to be expelled, fired, imprisoned, and even killed,” said Carter. “People often forget that the American right is an ideology based entirely off of the normalization of violence and oppression.”

COLUMBIA, MO. (KMIZ)

Prosecutors have charged a man with first-degree terrorist threat and resisting arrest following a four-hour standoff on Wednesday.

Police identified the suspect as 34-year-old Christopher Dow of Columbia. Officers arrested Dow shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday at his home on Hidden Creek Court on a warrant for third-degree domestic assault.

According to a probable cause statement released by CPD, an officer made contact over the phone with Dow. Dow told officers that he was armed and that if any officers entered the residence, Dow would open fire.

The officer stated that Dow said he would shoot the gas line and blow up the house, “to kill himself and as many officers as he could,” said the probable cause statement.

The home is in a residential area, and school buses were dropping off children nearby during the standoff. Police escorted children to their homes from the bus stop.

According to the statement, Dow showed an officer during a video call that he was standing next to a gas water heater with two different handguns. Dow reportedly told the officer he “would blow up the house and kill everyone he could before he came out.”

According to the statement, there were approximately 20-30 officers at the scene. Officers cleared the street and evacuated nearby residents in fear that Dow would carry out his threats.

Dow did not leave the residence until officers deployed gas.

The statement says they believe Dow will not appear in court if he receives bond, writing that “Dow stated he would rather die than spend one night in jail,” according to the statement.

Dow remained in jail without bond on Thursday morning.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

University of Missouri students report drug use is “prevalent” among the student body as conversations surrounding college drug use grow following a death investigation at the University of Mississippi.

Two students at Ole Miss were found dead in their off-campus homes Monday. They were identified as 20-year-old Robert Strang from Atlanta and 18-year-old Aidan Hamilton from Colorado. Authorities reported that the unregulated drug kratom was found nearby, with student groups circulating warnings about a new fentanyl-like synthetic opioid called cychlorphine.

The University of Missouri Interfraternity Council later notified students about the risks of drug use in a Facebook post in support of the University of Mississippi Interfraternity Council.

“The Mizzou Interfraternity Council Stands with the Ole Miss Interfraternity Council, the University of Mississippi community, and everyone affected by the events that occurred in Oxford this weekend,” the Facebook post said. “We have a responsibility to look out for one another and to take seriously the risks that can come with unknown or counterfeit substances.”

Authorities in Mississippi are yet to say whether kratom and cychlorphine had a role in the deaths.

ABC 17 News spoke with around a dozen University of Missouri students, with around half reporting they have seen a culture of drug use at the school. One student even shared that a friend who began using while at the University of Missouri later died of a cocaine overdose after college.

“The main one is cocaine, and it’s is very prevalent within like off-campus, like when you’re out at a bar in the bathroom or something like that and people are either offering it to you or asking you for it,” the student said.

“Kratom is very popular I would say, around downtown with students,” another student said. “It used to be like 18+ and they don’t even check for that, so if you just walk into the store and look like somewhat young adult, they’ll just give it to you.”

Both students added that they have seen several smoke shops and convenience stores downtown continue to sell kratom and 7-OH despite recent state government crackdowns.

Cychlorphine has gained notoriety for being more than 10 times stronger than fentanyl and has been increasingly seen in domestic Midwest drug markets. It also has no smell or taste and does not appear on fentanyl test strips.

“There’s an increased risk of overdose from people that may be using those drugs,” Boone County Public Health and Human Services Public Health Information Specialist Austin Krohn said. “Important to note, Narcan still works, but it may require additional doses and maybe up to more than two that usually come in the packages.”

According to the City of Columbia, Narcan, which stops opioid overdoses, can be found 24/7 in distribution boxes across the city, including at the Columbia Fire stations, the local health department and the Activity & Recreation Center.

University of Missouri sophomores Neer Patel and Grady Wright are working to bring awareness to drug education and safety through the Atlas Health Equity Group. The group hopes to lead state initiatives on naloxone access and public health education, including handing out free boxes of naloxone on campus.

“I think as of yesterday, we gave out 3,500 units and then today we’re planning on giving out another 1000 units,” Wright said. “We want to keep 500 in storage so we can hand that out to the bigger Greek life around campus.”

The naloxone is supplied by the University of Missouri St. Louis Addiction Science Team.

“I think it’s a misconception of naloxone that people think if they have it, they’re considered drug users, but naloxone is not for yourself, because if you’re overdosing, then you’re not going to be able to use naloxone, it’s just in case something ever does happen,” Patel said.

Both students add that their work comes from their own experiences of seeing overdoses while living in Columbia and Kansas City.

“Last year I saw someone overdose outside of the student center, which was kind of crazy because it takes so long for EMT to respond even when they’re so close, so that kind of prompted me to kind of get on it more for sure,” Wright said.

According to the University, naloxone can be found at the Wellness Resource Center inside the Student Center.

Students ABC 17 News spoke to added that naloxone can be found in some dorm halls.

“You talk to one of the members there, they can get you in contact with one of the people there that is able to do big group orders of Narcan as well as single ones,” one student said.

“The Mizzou IFC encourages every member of our community to educate themselves about overdose prevention, know where to access Narcan, and take action when a fellow student or brother may be in danger,” the University of Missouri IFC said in its Facebook post.

Krohn adds that 911 should be on the line during an emergency scenario before naloxone is given and to follow instructions throughout the treatment.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County’s 911 center switched its phone service provider from Brightspeed to AT&T on Wednesday, a week after a Brightspeed outage disrupted 911 service across Mid-Missouri.

Christie Davis with Boone County Joint Communications confirmed the switch Thursday. Boone County Joint Communications’ 911 service went offline Sept. 16 for several hours because of a Brightspeed disruption. During the outage, people who needed emergency assistance were directed to call 311.

The Boone County Office of Emergency Management said the disruption affected 911 centers across Missouri but was concentrated in Mid-Missouri. Boone County announced shortly before 5 p.m. that service had been restored.

Jefferson City and Cole County were also affected by the outage. Jefferson City police said 911 calls continued to come in but had to be rerouted. Service was restored after about four hours.

Jefferson City Police Lt. Curtis Finke said there was no disruption or delay in emergency services during the outage.

The outage happened as Jefferson City works toward modernizing its 911 infrastructure.

In March, the Jefferson City Council tabled a proposal to replace the police department’s older copper-based call-delivery system with a next-generation emergency services internet protocol network, also known as ESInet.

City documents said the newer system would support voice calls, texts and other emergency data while improving call routing. The proposal also included renewing the city’s five-year contract with Intrado for 911 call-handling services and upgrading the system’s hardware.

The project was estimated to cost $458,351 over five years.

Davis said Boone County’s transition took close to two years. The county entered into its contract about one year ago, and implementation took approximately nine months.

The transition was originally scheduled for July but was delayed while the county waited for additional equipment. Davis said previous outages were one factor in the decision, but the change also prepares the county for future Next Generation 911 features.

Under the new system, 911 calls are delivered through AT&T’s secure emergency services internet protocol network instead of the older CAMA trunks and copper lines. Brightspeed remains involved by providing the last-mile fiber connection. Boone County also added a wireless FirstNet connection as another backup if the fiber service fails.

Davis said Boone County’s previous system had one point of failure along the route from Jefferson City. The new system provides additional paths for incoming calls and allows the center to reroute calls to its administrative lines more quickly.

During the Sept. 16 outage, Davis said calls that did not reach the 911 center still appeared in RapidSOS, a mapping system used by dispatchers. That allowed telecommunicators to see where calls originated and return them using phone lines that were still working.

Davis said Boone County could not determine exactly how many emergency calls were affected because the calls were routed through administrative lines, which prevented the center from collecting its usual statistics.

Jefferson City Police Capt. Chad Stieferman said the city is still receiving 911 calls through Brightspeed’s analog CAMA trunks. The city has signed a contract with AT&T for a Next Generation 911 core and anticipates placing the system into service in April.

During last week’s outage, Jefferson City’s 911 calls rolled over to administrative lines. Stieferman said everyone was still able to reach the center, but dispatchers received emergency and nonemergency calls on the same lines and had to determine which calls needed immediate attention.

Stieferman said the AT&T system will use multiple data paths and redundant data centers instead of relying on the single point of failure in the current system. He said the newer infrastructure cannot guarantee that an outage will never happen, but it should reduce the risk of one failure disrupting call delivery.

Jefferson City is also completing a separate hardware refresh for its call-answering equipment. Stieferman said that project includes new servers and workstations through a five-year agreement with Intrado.