Author: KMIZ

Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia police officers arrested a man after a standoff on Wednesday in the northeast part of the city.

ABC 17 News saw several police officers on the scene with some of them pointing guns at the home on Hidden Creek Court, a cul-de-sac off of Rice Road and Hanover Boulevard.

Columbia Police Department spokesperson Colin Imhoff confirmed officers were serving a search warrant in the area. Another spokesman said officers were looking for a man with assault charges.

CPD spokesman Brian McNeill told ABC 17 News at the scene that the man who was detained was the suspect.

Police later wrote that the suspect’s name is Christopher Dow, 34, of Columbia. He was arrested on suspicion of third-degree domestic assault, resisting arrest and first-degree making a terroristic threat. He is being held at the Boone County Jail. Charges have not yet appeared on Casenet.

CPD wrote that when officers arrived, Dow threatened to “explode the residence.”

Resident Angie Martinez said in the 20 years she has lived in the neighborhood, she has never seen anything like Wednesday’s police response. Martinez added that she saw police visit the street three times from Saturday to Sunday, which she said is not typical.

Officers were heard yelling for a person to come out of the home. A K-9 was brought to the scene shortly after 2 p.m.

The road was blocked off by police.

Police had escorted students off a school bus at some point in the afternoon. Another school bus drove by at 4 p.m. and officers told the driver to drop off students at the next bus stop.

A SWAT team vehicle was brought in front of the home at 3:33 p.m.

Officers drove an armored vehicle forward and multiple dogs appeared after the vehicle pulled back out. Police used a flash bang at 4:51 p.m.

A man was detained by police shortly before 5 p.m. The armored vehicle was still parked in front of the home after the man was detained.

Court filings show that Dow was also charged in May with misdemeanor illegally possessing drug paraphernalia. A hearing in that case was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

This is a developing story.

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Camryn Payne

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 25-year-old St. Robert woman was seriously hurt after a crash in Maries County just before 10:34 a.m. Tuesday.

According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report, the woman was driving a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox on Highway 133 north of County Road 630, south of Brinktown, when the SUV traveled off the left side of the road and overturned.

The woman was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash and was taken to Phelps Health with serious injuries.

The SUV was totaled.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Association of Librarians asked the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday to uphold a lower court’s ruling that deems a law on sexually explicit materials in schools unconstitutional.

The law in question is Senate Bill 775. The bill went into effect in August 2022 and addressed sexual assault and school materials.

Section 573.550 of the Missouri Revised Statutes states that if any person affiliated with a school in any official capacity distributes “explicit sexual material” to a student, they can face punishment.

This includes up to a year in prison and/or a $2,000 fine.

The Jackson County Circuit Court banned the enforcement of the law, claiming it violated Missouri’s due process and freedom of speech clauses. Many states follow a set obscenity rule through the California case, Miller v. California, which set the standard that explicit material can be present as long as the work as a whole is not sexual or obscene in nature.

The Missouri Constitution specifically states that “any pictorial, three-dimensional, or visual depiction, including any photography, film, video, picture, or computer-generated image,” showing sexual acts.

The library association argued the definition is too broad, vaguely expanding the current standard most states share for sexually explicit material. As a result, librarians in the state have been pulling questionable books out of fear of punishment, potentially affecting the ability of instructors to provide information on sexual education and banning young adult books that imply sexual themes but don’t show explicit content.

“This statute has created a chilling effect on school library collection development, resulting in fewer representative books within our collections, due to fear of prosecution,” former library association President Melissa Corey said during initial court proceedings.

The library group says the law mainly focuses on secondary education literature, and has swept up a graphic novel of a “Game of Thrones” book and a children’s Bible.

According to court documents, other books that were considered in violation of SB 775 included “The Giver,” and graphic novel versions of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Slaughterhouse-Five.” Park Hill School District in Kansas City also permanently removed children’s picture book “The Big Bath House” which detailed a Japanese family going to a culturally traditional bathhouse.

“Librarians flagged a staggering 219 titles available to students for review by district administrators,” according to court documents.

“These books are only in high school libraries,” Gillain Wilcox with the ACLU of Missouri said. “High school students are mature enough to read them, school librarians know what books should be there, and these laws do target the LGBTQ+ community.”

“If an illustrated memoir detailing a professional athlete’s discovery of her sexuality contains even one prohibited depiction, a private-school basketball coach cannot loan her personal copy to a student on her team who is worried about coming out. If a graphic adaptation of an award-winning novel contains even one prohibited depiction, a special education teacher in a religious school cannot provide it to a student who struggles with traditional reading,” the librarians stated in their argument.

The state is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to reverse the decision, arguing that the law is not overly broad, and that the law regulates schools’ speech, not overall free speech.

“The state is free to adopt other definitions of obscenity as long as the definitions stay within the bounds set by the constitutional standard,” Deputy Solicitor General Graham Miller said.

The Missouri Supreme Court questioned Miller, asking the purpose of the law if there are already rules banning explicit material being shown to minors. The state said that SB 775 is different since it is limited to activity that takes place in schools.

“When Missouri parents send their children to school, they have a legitimate expectation that school officials will deliver age-appropriate instruction. And they legitimately expect that school officials have a ‘duty to supervise the students under their custody and control,'” the state wrote in its argument.

A ruling will be released at a later date.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri attorney general said Wednesday that her office is investigating a student group with a University of Missouri chapter for possible ties to fundraising for Islamic terrorists.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway cited “public reports from independent organizations” in her news release that “have raised concerns about SJP’s fundraising representations and alleged links between its efforts and organizations whose resources may ultimately reach radical Islamist terrorist groups.”

Students for Justice in Palestine has chapters across the country, including at the University of Missouri’s Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis campuses. The Columbia campus chapter clashed with MU leaders over having a float in the university homecoming parade, and legal action over that issue continues in federal court.

A hearing was held in that case Wednesday morning in St. Louis.

The organization has been critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, accusing Israel of genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip since an October 2023 terror attack by Hamas.

Hanaway’s office says it is issuing civil investigative demands, a subpoena-like power enjoyed by the attorney general, to Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine and the national leadership of the student group to examine whether the group has engaged in deceptive practices regarding charitable donations.

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ABC 17 News has asked Hanaway’s office for more details related to the allegations against SJP.

The Anti-Defamation League, an organization devoted to fighting antisemitism, alleges SJP has used “foreign terrorist organization rhetoric” on social media, including praise for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine issued a statement on Instagram on Wednesday afternoon.

“For the last three years, we have focused on bringing awareness to the ongoing genocide in Gaza by Israel, bought and paid for by our politicians,” the statement says. “Our advocacy is law-abiding and peaceful. Any suggestion to the contrary is a bigoted lie.”

The organization says Hanaway is targeting it because of the “State’s unlawful attempts to censor us,” referring to the homecoming parade lawsuit.

Check back for updates to this developing story.

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Gabrielle Teiner

COLUMBIA. Mo (KMIZ)

A fourth person has been charged for their role in a shooting in Columbia on Aug. 2.

Walter Ricketts, 43, of Columbia was charged on Aug. 12, but not made public until after his arrest on Tuesday.

He is charged with two counts of armed criminal action, one count of first-degree assault and one count of unlawful use of a weapon. He is currently being held in the Boone County Jail on no bond. No court date has been set yet as of Wednesday morning.

Ricketts is accused of being one of four people who participated in a shooting at the Interstate 70 and Highway 63 interchange that left one man hurt.

Mechoal Lewis, Chase Ricketts and Montrez Ricketts have also been charged for their alleged roles in the shooting. It is unclear who shot the gun from court documents.

Montrez Ricketts, 47, of Columbia, is also facing charges of first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of unlawful use of a weapon. He is also being held in the jail on no bond.

Chase Ricketts, 19, of Columbia, was arrested Friday on charges of first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action. He is also being held at the jail without bond. The younger Ricketts was arrested after police served a search warrant at Lakewood Apartments.

Lewis, 52, of Columbia, was charged a few days after the shooting but was indicted by a grand jury on Sept. 11 for seven felonies, including first-degree assault and illegal gun possession.

Court documents said the victim was shot in the mouth. Lewis allegedly told police he was the driver while Chase Ricketts was in the back seat.

Chase Ricketts is charged in a separate June 2026 shooting with felony evidence tampering for allegedly disposing of a gun.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Oral arguments are set to be heard Wednesday morning in the case of a University of Missouri student group that was excluded from marching in Mizzou Homecoming parades.

Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine filed a lawsuit against university President Mun Choi after it was banned from participating in the 2024 and 2025 homecoming parades, citing safety concerns. Arguments are expected to be heard at 9 a.m. in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

The hearing will be live-streamed and can be accessed by dialing 571-353-2301 and using access code 678341765.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations represents Mizzou SJP and will argue that the university violated the group’s First Amendment rights by removing it from the parade. In Wednesday’s hearing, the university is expected to argue several appeals, including a federal judge’s decision allowing the group to participate in the 2025 Homecoming parade, the district court’s judgment that the group’s First Amendment rights were violated, and a lower court’s decision not to remove Choi from the lawsuit.

According to court documents, Mizzou SJP’s application to join MU’s Homecoming parade was approved by both the 2024 Parade Committee and the Mizzou Alumni Association. For their float, the group planned to show Palestinian culture through a traditional dance and by passing out Palestinian candy to the crowd. They also planned to have two banners that said “Ceasefire Now” and “Stop the Genocide.”

The MSJP was then asked to meet with University of Missouri officials to explain its plans for the float. Members of the meeting included Michelle Froese, the then-Interim Dean of Students, representing University Chancellor Dr. Mun Choi. Mizzou SJP claims the university did not schedule similar meetings with other student groups.

“A University of Missouri official told MSJP leadership that its application would be subjected to a unique review process. Unlike every other student organization, Chancellor Choi had the final say on whether MSJP would be allowed to participate in the Homecoming Parade,” according to court documents.

Three days before the 2024 parade, Choi emailed the group, notifying them that he personally denied their application. In the email, Choi mentioned the behavior of students at other universities.

In Sept. 2025, a federal judge ruled that Mizzou SJP was allowed to participate in the 2025 Homecoming parade,  as long as the group’s entry “complies with the Parade Policy.”

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Matthew Sanders

University of Missouri President Mun Choi has been applying pressure on city leaders on downtown crime issues for weeks. During that pressure campaign, one bar in particular has drawn a direct callout — Reign.

Now the state’s top law enforcement official is applying pressure of her own.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said Tuesday that her office sent a letter to Reign warning its management about crime that’s happened outside the bar.

Do you support Hanaway getting involved? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two people were hurt – one seriously – in a single-vehicle crash Tuesday on Northwoods Road in Pettis County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says a 35-year-old Smithton man lost control of his 1993 Ford Explorer while it was heading northbound. The vehicle went off the road, hit a ditch and overturned, the report says.

The driver was seriously injured and his passenger – a 39-year-old Smithton man – had minor injuries. Both men were brought to Bothwell Regional Medical Center by ambulance.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Fitzgibbon Hospital in Saline County announced in a Tuesday morning social media post that it will be renamed to Missouri Valley Regional Medical Center.

The comes after the Marshall Hospital announced that it will be ending its inpatient labor and delivery services on Sept. 30.

American Medical Administrators took over its hospital operations earlier this month after a buyer for the hospital backed out of its deal.

“The inpatient Labor and Delivery unit has experienced ongoing financial losses for several years,” a social media post from the hospital says.  Following a thorough review of the unit’s performance given the resources required to sustain inpatient obstetrical services, it was determined that continuing the service in its current form was not financially sustainable.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An appeals court in Missouri’s western district upheld the conviction of a Cole County man who is serving two life sentences after he was found guilty of raping women.

Francis H. Kempker, 55, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole for two rapes committed during spring 2016 at his Centertown shop, previous reporting shows.

He was convicted of first-degree rape in April 2024.

Kempker was accused of bailing women out of jail and then raping them.

He was also found guilty of drug possession in 2023.

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