Author: KMIZ

Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

When Sophia Smith moved to Columbia in 2015, she described her neighborhood as “a gloom, dark place.”

Speaking at Tuesday night’s “Let’s Talk Local” discussion, hosted by the City of Columbia’s Office of Violence Prevention, Smith said that for her first three months there, she didn’t want to go outside. Day after day, she heard gunfire and saw children gathered outside her home, but said she was “not in the mood to do anything for anyone at the time.”

That changed after she found herself in the middle of a near shootout — an experience that pushed her to start reaching out to her neighbors.

One day, she stepped outside to find a crowd of people with guns drawn. 

“I look down and I see all these people gathered, so they are coming this way, the other is coming this way,” Smith told the crowd as she pointed to her left and right. “I walked out in between, and I pleaded and I asked the lady, ‘Please, can you take your son?’ It took everything because I didn’t know if I could have gotten shot or whatever. But I never did that before.” 

That moment led Smith to start organizing prayer walks in the neighborhood — a small act she said began to bring change. 

“They respected that someone cared,” Smith said.

The event, held at the Molly Thomas Bowden Neighborhood Policing Center, drew more than 40 people, including Democratic state Reps. Gregg Bush and David Tyson Smith, city staff and local media. Ward 2 Councilwoman Vera Elwood was the featured guest, while Office of Violence Prevention Administrator D’Markus Thomas-Brown presented on the city’s ongoing efforts to address community violence.

Thomas-Brown was one of the people who joined Smith’s prayer walks years ago, even though he admitted he was initially hesitant to participate. 

“We’ll do it one time,” he jokingly told the crowd. “Because the statistics of getting shot just doing it once… she said, ‘nah, we are going to do it for seven days. I said ‘There we go, yeah, we’re getting shot.”’

Along with the prayer walks, Smith said she began making for people in the neighborhood and organizing large community gatherings of over 100 people without issue.   

Both Smith and Thomas-Brown said the walks helped bring neighbors together. 

“When we talk about the Office of Violence Prevention and the Community Violence Intervention, it’s not something that happens in a vacuum and is new,” Thomas-Brown said. “People have been doing this for a long time, and as you heard from Miss Sophia, it is a method to the madness.”

Data shared during the event underscored the city’s challenges. While Columbia’s overall standard of living has improved, disparities remain stark for Black residents. The city’s median household income is about $64,500, but Black households report a median of just $34,400. Poverty among Black adults sits at 36%, with child poverty between 40-50%.

Thomas-Brown said the Office of Violence Prevention is working to address those underlying inequities. He said part of the mission is “community enrichment,” and the office is exploring a simulator program to illustrate how issues like poverty contribute to cycles of violence.

Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude also spoke, addressing department staffing challenges. The police department is allotted 185 positions and is close to filling them, but Schlude said the next step is evaluating whether that’s enough.

“We are asking the police to do a lot of different things that aren’t their lane,” she said. “That’s part of how we got into the place we are today because we are asking police officers to do social work and mental health and addiction and all sorts of different things… We can’t arrest our way out of this.”

Schlude said CPD is working to host a two-day retreat within the city to examine staffing and deployment. 

“We have to figure out what we need versus what we have and then figure out a plan to get there. I’ll tell you honestly that’s one of my biggest fears about retention, is that we won’t be able to retain people because we are asking them to do too much,” Schlude said during the meeting. “We can’t arrest our way out of this.  However, we talk about the carrot and stick all the time, and sometimes that’s what needs to happen.”  

Schlude said most of the city’s police officers have received Crisis Intervention Training, but a gap remains from when the city’s former training program, the LETI training academy, stopped offering it. The department now aims for 100% certification, though the training requires a full week to complete.

“We weren’t aware that they stopped offering that as part of the normal training for new police officers, so that created this gap that we have to go back and fill,” Schlude told ABC 17 News. “That’s a little difficult because CIT is a lengthy program. It’s a 40-hour program. So when you’re understaffed and you’re trying to find a way to train somebody, a week’s worth of training, that’s hard work, chipping away at it little by little. I will say, too, CIT started a long time ago, and it’s kind of a foundational piece to those crisis interventions. But we do a lot of other training that’s interrelated with CIT.”

Schlude said police involvement in the Office of Violence Prevention is focused on deterrence — an effort the city had previously tried to launch but struggled to get off the ground.

“I feel like everybody involved now, from DeMarcus, his office, to Roger Johnson at the prosecutor’s office, the new U.S. attorney in the Western District got named a few months ago, he has told us he’s willing to engage in this,” Schlude said. “So I think that is very promising for us because for us, the carrot and the stick that we talked about, a lot of that is through a program like Focus Deterrence, which is really giving people options, saying, ‘Hey, we know you’re engaging in these criminal activities, we’d really like you to get a job, get your GED, you know, help us help you find housing.’”

Assistant Chief Mark Fitzgerald said fewer than 2% of calls police respond to result in arrests.

“That is already such a small part of what we do. The much larger part is talking with people and trying to resolve these situations without arresting,” Fitzgerald said during the meeting. “We screw it up sometimes, I’m not suggesting that we don’t because we do. But I think as a whole we do a pretty good job.” 

Attendee Drew Hines said he left the meeting hopeful. 

“It wasn’t just white, black, the community was there, and it seems like it was a healthy representation of Columbia,” Hines told ABC 17 News. “I was very cautiously optimistic about the future.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Public Schools announced in a Monday night press release that Susan Goldammer will start her new role as the district’s general counsel on Nov. 3.

The position was created and approved in July, according to the release,

“This role will help enhance the district’s ability to navigate complex legal matters related to governance, compliance, contracts, personnel, and policy development. Establishing this position reflects the district’s continued growth and the increasing need for comprehensive legal support,” the release says.

CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark wrote in an email to ABC 17 News that Goldammer will make a prorated salary of $116,216.96. If Goldammer started at the beginning of CPS’ fiscal year on July 1, she would make $175,000.

The release says Goldammer is the chief of law and police and an attorney at the Missouri School Boards’ Association, where she has worked for more than 20 years. She is a member of Missouri Attorneys for Public Schools, the National Association of School Attorneys and the Council of School Attorneys, the release says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Tigers fans’ first glimpse at the new era of women’s basketball may not have gone as expected.

Missouri suffered a 90-84 overtime loss Tuesday night in an exhibition game against the Maryville Saints at Mizzou Arena, marking the unofficial start to new head coach Kellie Harper’s tenure with the program.

You can watch the full postgame press conference with Harper, guard Grace Slaughter and forward Jordana Reisma in the video player below.

Missouri went 35.5% (27-of-76) from the field and shot a meager 10% (three-of-30) from beyond the arc. The Tigers went just two-of-19 from 3 during the first half.

The Tigers jumped to a 19-8 advantage in the opening period, but Maryville outscored Missouri 17-10 in the second quarter to cut MU’s advantage to 29-25 at halftime. The Saints outscored the Tigers again in the third quarter 25-16 to take a 50-45 lead.

The Tigers tallied 33 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 78-all and force an overtime, but Maryville outscored Missouri 12-6 in the extra frame.

Two Missouri players recorded double-doubles. Junior guard Grace Slaughter paced the Tigers with 25 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, while senior forward Jordan Reisma tallied 21 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Shannon Dowell came up with 19 points.

Sophomore guard Lindsey Schadewalt led the Saints with 23 points as Maryville went 39% (30-of-77) from the floor, including 35.3% (12-of-34) from behind the 3-point line. Sophomore guard Olivia Hahn totaled 13 points, while freshman forward Claire Lueken produced 12, senior guard Bree Shannon scored 11 and senior forward Liz Behan came up with 10.

The Tigers open their season against Central Arkansas at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Mizzou Arena.

Check back for updates.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jessica McKinlay was a firecracker, loved the outdoors and never hesitated to state her opinion on topics she was passionate about.

She was also the mother to five children, all of who she was protective of, her family says. But her life was cut short on the night of Jan. 3, 2022, when the vehicle she and five others were in was hit head-on by a drunk driver.

“I was watching the 9:00 news for Columbia and that was my vehicle. And I seen it. And I knew it,” Jessica’s mother Brenda Freeman said. “I had given Jessica my vehicle because her vehicle was in the shop and I didn’t want her to be in that one with the kids. I knew before the Highway Patrol even came to my house.”

Brenda Freeman received the call no mother ever wants to receive. Her oldest daughter Melissa Weber said troopers told her to make sure she was at home, so they could explain to her what happened.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol told her McKinlay, along with two other passengers in her vehicle — 34-year-old Christopher McClain and 10-year-old Carmella McClain — were all killed in the wreck. Keith Sumner, 19, also died in the crash, after troopers say he traveled southbound in the northbound lanes.

“It’s hard to say that they’re gone because even though it’s been three years, it’s hard to say that. I take the urn literally everywhere. She’s in my car, she’s riding in my front seat,” Weber said. “When she was here we were inseparable so losing her is…it’s definitely been a life change. They called us the three little ducks, they would see her (Freeman,) then me and then my little sister (Jessica) just waddling everywhere.”

The crash left three children — who were also involved in the crash — without a mother and father, with traumatic brain injuries and mobility complications, and forced to re-learn basic life skills.

One child, Caitlin, was 2-years-old at the time of the crash. Freeman and Weber say she woke up from a coma roughly a month later.

A second child involved in the crash, Nicholas woke up the week after the crash.

Natalie suffered severe injuries in the crash and had to be brought back from the brink of death multiple times, according to Freeman. Freeman said when she arrived to the hospital, she was faced with the question of whether or not to let her go.

“That part I remember well because I screamed out to Melissa, she was out in the waiting room talking to the police officers…that meant I was going to lose another girl,” Freeman said.

The two decided, instead, to send Natalie to St. Louis for treatment, having only a 5% chance of living.

Two months later, she woke up.

Years later, Weber is the guardian of the children who survived, but she and Freeman say the hardest part is making sure the children always remember their mother.

“I have voicemails for my sister and I will never let them forget what their mommy sounded like,” Weber said. “I have my sister’s pictures and her urn in our house. She’s literally still involved. They’ll draw pictures at school and I’ll say make sure you give mommy and daddy one.”

Former Dash Convenience and Liquor Store on Ninth Street sold alcohol to Sumner the day of the deadly crash, a Missouri State Highway Patrol investigation found. The store later lost its license to sell liquor months later, after an investigation found it had sold alcohol to Sumner several times.

Years later, the owners of the store were caught working at Spring Creek Liquor in south Columbia, despite Missouri law stating the two could not legally work at another liquor store until five years after revocation.

The store had its license revoked in August 2025, but Freeman and Weber don’t believe that’s enough.

“They should never be able to operate and sell alcohol or tobacco anymore, like ever,” Weber said. “It’s so easy for them to be able to reopen and continue doing what they’re doing without any repercussion, while the families that are at stake here…I mean it’s just devastating, there’s no words for it.”

Court records show Dashrath Patel– who formerly owner Dash Liquor– was charged with selling alcohol to a minor the day of the deadly crash. Court documents say he sold four 50 ml-sized bottles of alcohol to a “K.S.” He paid a $300 fine in January 2023.

Jay Patel, who also owned Dash, was also charged in December 2021 for supplying liquor to a minor. He was sentenced and paid a $300 fine in February 2023, though he’s seeking expungement.

Weber and Freeman say they’d like to see Missouri’s laws related to selling alcohol to a minor tightened up, calling what happened in their situation “a slap on the wrist.” They’d like to bring the matter to Gov. Mike Kehoe’s attention.

“I mean, so many people’s lives are destroyed by this,” Weber said. “When I heard he only had to pay the $300 fine, I wanted to go up there and show him these pictures of these babies on life support that no longer have parents at all.”

According to Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson, Missouri’s law related to selling alcohol to a minor is a B misdemeanor, and could land a fine, or up to six months in jail. A second offense, or an A misdemeanor can also be punishable by a fine and up to a year in jail.

There are also administrative consequences, or situations where the administrative agency needs a conviction to suspend a person’s liquor license.

Freeman said she has a hard time understanding why businesses and business owners are not held liable in these situations. She said she thinks every business should check customer’s licenses, no matter how old they look, saying it only takes one time for a situation to turn tragic.

“The employees need to be fired for that one mistake because all it takes is one time literally,” Freeman said. “But also the people that own the business, they should go over the tapes and see what’s going on in their store.”

Freeman and Weber also said they believe the ATC’s application process for obtaining a liquor license in the state isn’t thorough enough, saying the ATC should have caught that the Patels were working at the store sooner.

Communications Director Mike O’Connell told ABC 17 News via email that there are several items required by the ATC to receive a license, including a criminal record check, which must be sworn to under oath.

ABC 17 News reached out to a Patel family attorney.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Department of Conservation is reminding hunters to inspect their tree stands and clip on their harnesses after a man died Tuesday after falling out of a tree stand in East Columbia.

“If you’re in the tree stand itself, really anybody’s at risk for getting injured, suffering from fractured bones or other injuries,” MU Health Care Dr. Christopher Sampson said.

According to the International Hunter Education Association, tree stand accidents account for 300-500 deaths and 6,000 injuries in the U.S. annually. Common injuries are broken bones, dislocations and concussions.

The Tree Stand Manufacturers Association also found that around 82% of hunters who fell out of tree stands were not wearing harnesses.

“The most common injuries are falls,” Sampson said. “We get people who either fall from the deer stand or fall getting into the deer stand.”

Adam Doerhoff, the Missouri Department of Conservation agent for Boone County, also reports many injuries happen when climbing in and out of the stand.

Before heading out, it’s recommended that hunters make a plan with someone they know to establish where they will be and how long they will be out. Fixed stands should also be checked annually for rust, rotted support straps and rotted tree trunks before settling in.

“It can be as simple as a text message, ‘Hey, I’m going to be in the stand down by the creek and I’ll be back just a little bit after dark,'” Doerhoff said. “There’s been times somebody’s fallen, and whether they’re alive or not, nobody can find them.”

Doerhoff also recommends investing in a headlamp and tow rope to lift equipment into the stand. He added hunters should be harnessed once they are in the stand.

“A lot of falls are caused by people having too much stuff in their hands, or missing a step, or tripping on something in the dark, just those two accessories right there can prevent a lot of falls,” Doerhoff said.

In general, Doerhoff suggests hunters purchase a tree stand instead of building one from scratch. When hunting with children, he advises using a tree blind instead of a stand, since doors and zipper enclosures can help prevent slips and falls. He adds that it’s also important to know one’s limits when using a stand.

“I used Hang on Tree stands for decades, I’m done with them, it’s getting harder for me at my age and then making that transition from that last step onto the platform,” Doerhoff said. “There are a lot of different kinds of tree stands and hunting blinds and I’ve decided to change what I use as well.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources announced in a Tuesday press release that it has awarded $2.28 million to the Howard County Public Water Supply District No. 2.

The release says the money will be used to make upgrades to the water distribution, storage and supply systems. The funding is expected to cover the entire project, which is expected to be completed by May 2026, the release says.  

The project includes “installation of a new regional connection with the Howard County Regional Water Commission, a new booster pumping station, a standby generator and additional water lines,” the release says.

The release says $390,060 of the funding comes from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund grant and a $1.89 million, 20-year, low-interest loan that is subject to $1.16 million in forgiveness to the principal.

The DNR wrote it expects the funding to save the city more than $1.5 million in the principal and $315,000 in interest.

Huntsville was awarded $3.1 million from the DNR in a similar fashion on Monday.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Fulton man has been charged with three felonies and three misdemeanors after he allegedly shot at an occupied car and pointed a gun at another person on Saturday night.

Lamar Scott Jr., 19, was charged with two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of armed criminal action, misdemeanor fourth-degree assault, misdemeanor stealing and misdemeanor fourth-degree domestic assault.  

The probable cause statement alleges that Scott pointed a gun at one victim near a gas station on Chestnut Street. A second victim claimed that Scott tried to assault them in a church parking lot, the statement says. The victim allegedly then drove off with Scott’s car and Scott fired shots to get them to stop, the statement says.

Multiple victims claimed Scott said during a group phone call that someone was going to die that night, the statement says. Another victim alleged Scott tried to break into their home, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Sedalia police on Tuesday morning arrested a man in a “Scream” mask after a standoff.

Mario Wilson, of Sedalia, was charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree harassment, a misdemeanor. He was detained and is being held on a $15,000 bond. A mugshot was not immediately available. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says police were called to a residence after allegations of someone wearing a mask from the movie “Scream” had fired shots. Law enforcement arrived at the home at 12:43 a.m. and called out for residents to get out of the home, the statement says.

The victims were seen in a window of the home and officers were able to help them out of the window, the statement says. Police continued to give orders to Wilson, but he allegedly called dispatch and asked to negotiate, the statement says. Wilson eventually surrendered at 1:11 a.m., court documents say.

One of the victims allegedly told police that their RING camera had been giving them notifications throughout the day and they saw a man in a “Scream” mask, which startled her, the statement says.

The victim allegedly called a male friend to head over to the house and tell Wilson to leave, and Wilson allegedly ran to the backyard and climbed through a window to enter the house, the statement says. Prior to that, Wilson allegedly sent messages to the victim to let him in the home and she told him she would not, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A wrongful death lawsuit involving a Moniteau County crash was moved to Miller County on Tuesday.

The parents of Deborah Kay Coville filed a wrongful death lawsuit against John Kendrick and Moniteau County on Aug. 29 after Coville died from injuries she suffered in a crash on Aug. 5.

The petition alleges that Kendrick did not stop at a stop sign or yield to Coville’s Chevy Lumina as she drove eastbound on Lookout Trail. A Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report says the driver of the dump truck failed to yield to the Chevrolet.

Both drivers wore seatbelts in the crash, the report says. Coville was flown to University Hospital with serious injuries that day and later died on Aug. 12, the petition says.

Kendrick previously argued that because he is a public employee and is entitled to protection for “discretionary” acts. 

The date for the next hearing has not been announced.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A patient at the University of Missouri Psychiatric Center has been charged with a felony after he was accused of attacking a mental health technician on Saturday.

Michael Brown Jr. was charged with first-degree assault. He is not listed on the Boone County Jail’s online roster and a court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says the attack was caught on video and Brown allegedly attacked the victim while he was walking through the area with a television. After the victim was on the ground, he allegedly was kicked in the face multiple times.

The victim spoke with police at the emergency room of University Hospital, the statement says. Other patients allegedly wanted to watch a movie, the victim turned one on and Brown allegedly accused the victim of being racist and attacked him, the statement says.

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