Author: KMIZ

Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two people suffered serious injuries when their crossover SUV went off the road and rolled several times on Highway 54 on Wednesday afternoon.

The 2025 Nissan Rogue was traveling eastbound at Route AA in Callaway County when it went off the road, went airborne after hitting an embankment, and rolled several times before coming to rest, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report.

The driver, a 28-year-old woman from Jefferson City, and her passenger, a 36-year-old man from St. Louis, were taken to St. Mary’s Hospital with serious injuries, the report states.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A jury found a Florida man guilty Wednesday on charges related to a 2024 shooting inside a Columbia restaurant.

After a two-day trial and several hours of deliberations, jurors convicted Alexis Gonzalez, 38, of assault and armed criminal action. Gonzalez was acquitted of unlawful use of a weapon.

Gonzalez, 38, of Orlando, Florida, was accused of shooting Gary Bitsicas in the face on Aug. 17, 2024.

Gonzalez claimed that he was acting in self-defense and in defense of his girlfriend. Prosecutors argued that Gonzalez re-entered the restaurant with his gun and the intention to shoot and harm Bitsicas following a confrontation outside of the restaurant.

The victim of a 2024 shooting inside a Buffalo Wild Wings in Columbia testified Wednesday that he lost his left eye to a bullet.

The shooting inside the Buffalo Wild Wings followed an altercation outside of the restaurant between Bitsicas and Gonzalez’s girlfriend because she and Gonzalez allegedly didn’t pay their bar tab. The couple tried to walk out after a bartender cut Gonzalez off for being too drunk, prosecutors allege. The state says the shooting was intentional, but Gonzalez’s defense says the shot was fired accidentally.

Bitsicas testified that he regretted the encounter, which prosecutors and the defense played on video in court.

“I’m ashamed, I am. I shouldn’t have called her names. I should have just recorded and shut up,” Bitsicas said.

The defense suggested Bitsicas’ behavior when he returned inside after the fight had been broken up outside painted a different picture.

“When you walked back inside to your friends and flexed your muscles, you were acting like you had just won a fight?” said Jeff Hilbrenner, Gonzalez’s attorney.

Mira Rodriguez, Gonzalez’s girlfriend, also testified Wednesday and described feeling terrified during the encounter.

“He was just too close to me. I didn’t feel safe,” she said. “He was calling me a dumb c*nt and saying that I was walking out on a tab when I wasn’t trying to. I was just looking for the person I came to the restaurant with so we could fix this issue.”

Rodriguez said Bitsicas started to hit her as well.

“The minute I pushed the phone away he used his forearm and pushed me up against the wall, he had it on my neck,” Rodriguez said. “Then he punched me in my ear, he was grabbing me by my neck and at a certain point he was grabbing the top of my hair and pushing me down.”

Photos were shown of marks and injuries Rodriguez sustained in her fight with Bitsicas like a bloody ear and scratches on her neck area. Rodriguez had taken a phone call from Gonzalez during the beginning of her confrontation with Bitsicas. Gonzalez testified Wednesday he heard his girlfriend on the phone say Bitsicas was “beating her” and ran back over to the Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot to intervene.

That’s when two other men, believed to be with Bitsicas also jumped in. Gonzalez testified this led him to feeling outnumbered and in fear of his safety and that is why he brought the gun with him into the bar.

Rodriguez testified in the midst of the fight her phone had fell on the ground, where Bitsicas picked it up and then brought it inside with him.

Bitsicas explained his actions after returning back inside as him feeling like he had “just survived a beating.” He also testified that he had drunk several beers that night.

“I had got the evidence that was necessary to hold them accountable,” Bitsicas said.

The defense also questioned Bitsicas movement in the direction of Gonzalez when Gonzalez came back inside after grabbing his gun. Bitsicas said he was trying to get to the front entrance to leave and Gonzalez was in his path. Gonzalez testified that he was only looking to get his girlfriend’s phone back and verbally confront Bitsicas, but said Bitsicas charged at him inside the restaurant.

“The minute that I turned and looked up I seen 6’2, 280 lb. Gary coming at me at a high speed,” Gonzalez said. “I started to feel his hands grabbing on me and I immediately reached for the gun because he was twice my size and I don’t know who was behind him, I was outnumbered. So I reached over my head and pistol whipped him on the head with the gun.”

Bitsicas later testified he was concerned Gonzalez would possibly hurt others in the restaurant.

“I was protecting the people behind me, I thought he was coming for the bartender, and I was protecting everybody in that restaurant,” Bitsicas said.

“Is it a surprise to you that the owner of that cell phone, or the boyfriend of the owner of that cell phone, would come looking for that cell phone?” Hilbrenner asked Bitsicas.

“It wouldn’t surprise me, no,” Bitsicas responded.

Bitsicas testified that his memory of the incident stops right before the gun was fired. Gonzalez testified that his past military training would never allow him to intentionally shoot a gun in the manner the state claims he did.

“You would never swing a gun to shoot and kill someone. I hit Gary over the head with the gun and the bullet ejected. That is a gun with no safety,” Gonzalez said.

The penalty phase will begin Thursday morning at 8 a.m. Gonzalez faces up to 30 years in prison.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Low humidity and strong winds helped a wildfire spread to engulf 467 acres and threaten a home in Camden County on Tuesday.

The Northwest Fire Protection District wrote in a social media post that firefighters were called to the blaze on Indian Creek Road in Edwards at about 1 p.m. The fire had jumped a road and was threatening a home, according to the post.

The fire repeatedly jumped fire lines because of the high winds, but firefighters put it out without injuries or damage to structures. Firefighters from six other districts were called in to help, the post states.

Mid-Missouri experienced high winds throughout the day Tuesday ahead of a storm system that moved through the area that evening. An official National Weather Service station at the Lake Ozark airport recorded gusts in excess of 20 mph.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Multiple customers are without power Wednesday morning, following overnight storms in Mid-Missouri.

According to the statewide outage map from the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, Benton County has the most outages with 795 customers without power as of 7:53 a.m. Wednesday.

After Boone County customers had their power restored just before 5 a.m., 147 people are without power as of 7:54 a.m. In Callaway County, 169 customers are currently without power.

In Phelps County, 252 people have lost power, and 129 customers in Camden County are in the dark.

Audrain, Chariton, Saline, Morgan, Montgomery, and Pettis Counties are reporting less than 100 customers without power.

Check back for updates.

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Matthew Sanders

President Donald Trump was quoted as saying that one way the war in Iran could end is through “unconditional surrender.”

So far, the regime in the Islamic Republic isn’t budging.

This week, the hardliners named Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the former ayatollah killed early in the strikes, as the next supreme leader. Meanwhile, the United States and Israel continue to hammer away at military targets and top Iranian leadership.

Do you think the U.S. can win the unconditional surrender that Trump mentioned? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Ryan Shiner

COLIMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Hazardous material crews on Tuesday morning were called to the water tower at Grand Point Boulevard in Sunrise Beach after a 150-pound chlorine tank leaked, according to a Tuesday press release from the agency.

The tank was being changed out in a maintenance building by Camden County Public Water and Sewer District personnel when it started leaking, prompting crews to call emergency personnel at 9:04 a.m., the release says.

No evacuations were required and no injuries were reported. An isolation area of 200 feet was set up and Gran Point Boulevard was shut down while responders worked, the release says.

Hazmat technicians shut down the leak and secured the tank at 11:18 a.m. and the alarm was under control by 11:45 a.m., the release says. The scene was cleared minutes later.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was found guilty earlier this year for felonies connected with a pair of 2025 shootings has filed an appeal.

Joshua Abrams, 24, was found guilty of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action. He was previously charged with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. He was sentenced to three years in prison for one charge, 300 days in jail for the other and was given credit for time served.

He was sentenced on Monday, the same day he filed the appeal.

Court documents in previous reporting indicate Abrams is accused of being one of multiple shooters downtown early on the morning of April 13, 2025, where a Columbia Police Department vehicle was hit.

Abrams is also suspected in a May 1 shooting on Clark Lane. Officers found shell casings and bullet holes in the ground in the area where shots were heard, the statement says. Witnesses in the statement claim Abrams fired a gun after an argument, the documents say.

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ABC 17 News Team

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Mexico City Council has temporarily turned down a bill that would start the design process to make the old county hospital into a new city hall.

The bill – which was voted down by the council 3-2 on Monday night — would have sent $300,000 to a group to start plans on the redesigns.

Council members said they did not pass it because they have not followed the Roberts Rules Of Order.

One option includes renovating the cancer center and sharing the building with a hospital. That would cost $12,830,900.

Another option includes building a new city hall and public safety facility, requiring the demolition of the current site. That option would cost roughly $18,742,354, according to meeting documents.

A third option includes building a new safety facility and renovating city hall, which would cost roughly $18,663,727.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The University of Missouri is prepared to use its alert system on Tuesday, as strong storms could move into the area.

Parts of Mid-Missouri were under a tornado watch on Tuesday evening, stretching from Sedalia to Paris. Other areas risk seeing the possibility of damaging wind, large hail and rainfall as the storm makes its way through the area.

The University of Missouri has a system in place — known as MU Alerts — to alert students if they need to take shelter in the event that severe weather hits. Faculty and students can receive the alerts via text message and email. The university also posts alerts to its ‘X’ page.

Spokesman Christopher Ave said MU is prepared to communicate the urgent messages to students and faculty on Tuesday, if necessary. The system was last tested in September 2025 and the university also tested its ‘X’ alert around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“Whenever severe weather poses an immediate threat to campus, we can use them to alert and communicate appropriate instructions,” Ave said. “It’s also important to note that the National Weather Service triggers our MU Alert messages to be sent whenever a tornado warning has been issued and if it touches campus or is close to campus, an MU alert will go out.”

The university last used the system in January to announce remote operations after snowfall hit Mid-Missouri, Ave said. The system is also used to alert students to potential crime scenes or danger on campus. One alert was sent out at the start of the school year as police responded to a car backfiring that was initially called in as a shots-fired case.

MU sophomore Mary Davison said she finds the alerts to be helpful for students who may not be signed up for local news stations or other places where they could stay up to date on weather.

“I personally don’t check my phone that often, so I don’t stay up to date with things that are going on downtown or weather that often,” Davison said. “But when I get a text from the MU Alert, that’s a nice and easy way for me to just see my phone and then I’m in the know of what’s going on.”

Davison also said she thinks the system can be useful for students who may not be used to, or know, what to do when a tornado rolls through to be better prepared and stay safe.

Davisons’ friend, MU junior Ella Goldinger, also said she finds the alerts to be helpful, especially for college students to stay aware of what’s happening outside of their “bubble.” She said she remembers when the university sent an alert last April, after an EF-1 tornado hit Columbia.

“I remember getting home and I got the news that there was an actual tornado in Columbia at that time and I got our cat and I laid in my bathtub downstairs, so it was nice to have that layer of safety and then also ‘OK, we’re safe now,'” Goldinger said.

Sophomore Emily Marty said she finds the alerts to be more useful when it comes to potential crime on campus because she typically stays in the know using her weather app.

However, she said she can see how others find them useful.

“Especially those who don’t use their weather app on their phone as much who rely on those notifications I think that can be very beneficial,” Marty said.

The university says it often does drills to assess existing plans and policies, while also testing the emergency alert system. Every semester, all members of the campus community participate in these drills, according to its website.

To sign-up to receive MU Alerts, students can register through their myZou accounts. Faculty and staff can register through their myHR accounts. Parents, community members and others who do not have an account with the university can sign up for alerts in two ways.

People can view resources and safety tips here.

Boone County’s outdoor warning sirens ready to sound

Boone County’s outdoor warning sirens are ready to sound on Tuesday, if a tornado were to touch down in the area.

According to Deputy Director of the Boone County Office of Emergency Management Jake Waller, the county could not test its sirens last week for what was supposed to be its monthly test due to inclement weather. However, he said the system runs silent connectivity checks twice daily and remain confident in their reliability.

Waller said any issues detected are immediately reported for immediate follow-up.

Waller said Boone County OEM starts preparations for severe weather days in advance. He said a meeting was had on Tuesday to determine who would be in the Emergency Operations Center and tested to make sure radios and TVS were working.

Waller said OEM works to monitor 911 calls, watches the weather radar and MODOT travel cameras and communicates with different municipalities and organizations.

“If we start seeing a lot of reports of damage or power outages or anything like that, like maybe an uptick in 911 calls, lines down, tree limbs down, then we’ll start coordinating common messaging between all of the different municipalities and organizations and coordinating calls with our utility partners to help facilitate getting utilities back on,” Waller said.

Waller said he encourages people to report storm damage to their property to OEM. That can be done here.

He also said it’s important that people don’t solely rely on outdoor warning sirens and should also rely on NOAA Weather Radio, Wireless Emergency Alerts, local media, and other alerting tools to receive severe weather warnings.

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Ryan Shiner

AUDRAIN COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Multiple agencies responded to a fire at a hay barn on Tuesday evening in the 600 block of Audrain Road 110.

Dispatch data from the city of Columbia shows the Boone County Fire Protection District responded to a mutual aid call at 4:49 p.m. BCFPD Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp said at 6:22 p.m. that the fire was under control.

Smoke was seen coming from the area when a reporter arrived at 5:56 p.m.

Another firefighter from Renick said an excavator was brought to the scene to pull material off the barn. Crews will be set up around it in case the wind kicks it up again.

Check back for updates.

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