Category: kmiz-local-news

Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help locating a suspect vehicle after a shooting on Spruce Road just before noon Sunday.

A social media post from the sheriff’s office said, one person was shot and transported to the hospital for medical treatment. Further information on their condition was not immediately available.

A suspect vehicle description was provided that describes a gray SUV seen leaving the area and traveling toward South 17 Highway in the direction of Buckhorn following the crime. No possible suspect name was provided.

“The vehicle may have continued through the intersection of Spruce Road and South 17, past the Shell station, and toward the Laquey area,” the post read.

Sheriff Stacy L. Ball said a motive is still unconfirmed at this time, but preliminary evidence shows the shooting was intentional and directed at the victim.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff’s office.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

No one was hurt after an air conditioning unit caught fire in a vacant Stephens College dormitory Sunday morning, according to Columbia Fire Department.

At 9:25 a.m., CFD was dispatched to the residence hall in the 100 block of Melbourne Street.

Stephens security staff met firefighters on site and directed them to the source of the smoke on the second floor of the five-story building.

A news release from the department said firefighters used thermal imaging cameras to locate the source of the fire in a dorm room, where they found the air-handling unit with flames visible.

The release said the fire was quickly extinguished and contained to the area.

Stephens security staff are now conducting regular checks of these units in the dormitory following the incident as repairs are being completed, according to the release.

A total of 25 Columbia Fire Department personnel responded to the incident.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

One woman was transported to the hospital Sunday afternoon and both lanes of South Scott Boulevard to Christian Fellowship road were temporarily closed after a rollover crash, according to Columbia Fire Department.

Capt. Dwayne Cummins with CFD said it was a single car rollover accident that trapped the woman inside.

Officials say the woman was safely removed from the car and transported to a local hospital for evaluation. Cummins was unable to speak to the woman’s injuries before she was transported from the scene.

Check back for updates.

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Alison Patton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Communities are still recovering Sunday from stronger-than-expected storms Saturday afternoon that left downed power lines and trees across Mid-Missouri.

Osage City closed routes into the city to nonresidents Saturday night because of damage. In a press release sent out that night, the Cole County Emergency Services Chief Eric Hoy said the city would reopen during the day Sunday. However, a social media post from the agency Sunday included a minor change of plans.

“All public roadways are open. However, access to Osage City continues to be limited to property owners until power is restored,” the post reads.

According to the release, the power grid continues to stabilize, but it’s unclear when power will be fully restored because of the widespread outages.

ABC 17 News has reached out to Ameren for an update on restoration progress. In the meantime, a message on the power company’s website said work is extensive, and it could take until Tuesday for power to be back on for the majority of the state.

“Given the extent of the damage, restoration in Missouri will take multiple days,” Ameren said on its power outage map. “Every available crew, including mutual assistance crews from other utilities, is focused on restoring service safely and as quickly as possible.”

Ameren reports that over a total of 63,000 people were out of power following the storms. The largest area being affected is down by the Lake of the Ozarks and near Jefferson City.

“We’ve seen a number of broken poles, transformer outages, a significant amount of wire down. Definitely significant damage that has resulted in a number of outages,” Ameren’s vice president of energy delivery Jackie Becker said.

Becker said at least 56 poles were broken, and there could be more. The poles take hours to repair, leading to delayed energy returns.

Cole County Emergency Services is also asking people to use caution when using a generator while waiting for power to come back on.

Hoy said two Cole County residents were taken to the hospital for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.

He said it’s crucial to keep generators outside and away from windows. Hoy said it’s important to have a carbon monoxide detector.

The Jefferson City Correctional Center and the Algoa Correctional Center were temporarily running on generator power Saturday afternoon following the storm, spokesperson Karen Pojmann told ABC 17 News in a text. Power was fully restored to the facility around 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Monica Brown said she drove three hours to see her finance in the Algoa Correctional Center, but was turned away when she got there.

“These in-person visitations are kind of our only in-person contact we get with these individuals as our loved ones, so it’s a little hard,” Brown said.

Pojmann said visitations were canceled out of “precaution,” and visitation is expected to start again Friday.

Brown and other ABC 17 News viewers said their loved ones in the facilities didn’t have access to water, working toilets, food or medications.

“At no time were residents without food, drinking water or medications,” Pojmann told ABC 17 News over text.

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Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Comments about a detouring slowing response to the fire have been edited out. The fire department said Monday that the St. Charles Road detour didn’t affect the fire response.

A home in east Columbia was considered a total loss after an early Sunday morning fire on Tara Lane, just down the road from the recently demolished St. Charles Road Bridge.

The Tara Lane homeowner told ABC 17 News he purchased the house last summer as a renovation project. He did not want to be identified but shared a few details Sunday as he was cleaning through the remains of the home. He said he was grateful he was at his primary residence when the fire broke out.

Three neighbors, Elijah Tucker, Peyton Mautin and Daxton Hansen are being praised after spotting smoke coming from the home and calling 911.

“The kids were really the heroes at the moment, because at 4 a.m. everybody around here was in bed or asleep,” said Walt Domanski with the United States Exercise Tiger Foundation. “They took the first call in and woke people up.”

The men said they were in the area on a walk, talking to one another, when they noticed smoke.

“You couldn’t really see anything when you were getting close. It was just all orange and light.” Hansen said.

Tucker added the smell from the smoke was potent even from a distance.

According to the Columbia Fire Department, crews were dispatched at 4:30 a.m. Sunday for a reported structure fire. Officials said the home is located on an unimproved road in a remote section of property near Columbia’s Hominy Creek Trail, making it difficult to immediately identify the exact location of the fire.

After receiving additional information from 911 callers, more fire companies were dispatched at 4:40 a.m. The department said the first firefighter reached the home on foot within eight minutes after locating the property.

The neighbors who first called 911 said it felt much longer.

“It took almost about an hour. For the response time, it was kind of sad,” Tucker said.

The home is about four miles from Columbia Fire Station 5.

Domanski said firefighters acted quickly once they arrived, preventing the fire from spreading beyond the home.

Domanski said Tucker, Mautin and Hansen will receive the organization’s Civilian Commendation Medals for their actions in reporting the fire.

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Haley Swaino

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Boonville library is set to close for about a month on Monday as it relocates to a new building.

After 65 years, the Cooper County branch of Boonslick Regional Library, located at 618 Main St. in Boonville, is moving. A news release says its new home is on the Historic Kemper Campus in Boonville.

A three-story red brick building built in 1906 will house the library and provide more than double the space of the current building. It recently underwent a $1,146,000 renovation, according to the release. The upgrades were made possible by private donations.

The library is closing to allow time for books and furniture to be moved and organized. It will reopen in about a month. In the meantime, online programs and services will remain available.

No fines will be given during the relocation, and items previously checked out will not be due back until the branch reopens.

The release says the MU Raptor Rehabilitation Program scheduled for 3 p.m. on July 15 and the storytelling event at 2 p.m. on July 31 will both be held in the State Fair Community College conference room—the building next to the library’s new home on Third Street.

The Boonslick Regional Library branches in Cole Camp, Sedalia and Warsaw will remain open.

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Haley Swaino

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A house in east Columbia is likely a total loss after a Sunday morning fire, according to Columbia Fire Department spokesperson Skyler Clark.

An ABC 17 News reporter saw at least three CFD fire engines and one Boone County Fire Protection District fire engine around 5:30 a.m. on Tara Lane near the Hominy Creek Trail. Clark said no injuries were reported.

Columbia residents Elijah Tucker, Peyton Mautin and Daxton Hansen were in the area and called 911 after seeing smoke coming from the home.

“We see a giant cloud of black smoke, I immediately get on my phone like, ‘Call 911, call 911,'” Tucker said.

“Me and Peyton took it upon ourselves to run down here and check out the flames closer, and we ended up running up to the hill and checking if anybody was in the house,” Hansen said.

Courtesy: Daxton Hanson

The group said the home looked fully engulfed, and they stayed nearby to warn neighbors.

“I was concerned about the embers from the fire catching on to the trees and maybe taking down the power lines, and that as well as the embers carrying far distances and hitting maybe a trailer in that trailer park back there,” Hansen said.

According to Clark, getting to the scene of the fire also proved difficult. Fire hydrants were scarce in the area, and a bridge to the home was too narrow for initial fire crews.

CFD had to call the Boone County Fire Protection District for mutual aid. Once more units arrived, smaller brush fire trucks were used to get to the home.

“There was a bridge that won’t allow us to move large apparatus up here, so by the time we were able to make access, it immediately became a defensive attack,” Clark said.

“Not too long after the firemen got here, and then we proceeded to show them how to get up there so they can do their job,” Mautin said.

Because the home is expected to be a total loss, Clark said crews switched their focus to preventing the fire from spreading.

The Columbia Fire Marshall is working to inspect the building.

Check back for updates.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

One person was saved by the Boone County Fire Protection District after being trapped in their car late Friday night.

According to a news release from the fire protection district, it was challenging technical rescue in the 9200 block of North Brown Station road.

The report said the car went off the side of the roadway and struck a tree trapping the driver. Firefighters reportedly had to remove portions of the car to safely access the occupant who was later taken to the hospital.

Columbia Fire Department also assisted in the rescue efforts.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Watch a streaming-only edition of ABC 17 News at 6.

The newscast aired at 6 p.m., July 4.

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Olivia Hayes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Severe storms Saturday afternoon have lead to the closure of Osage City to the public, according to Cole County Emergency Services.

CCES Chief Eric Hoy said the city will close down roads leading into the city for only people who live there because of debris in the road and damages to structures.

Following the afternoon storms, emergency services went around checking on people in the area. Hoy said there were no reported injuries.

Several area public safety agencies responded to a water rescue in the Osage River around 3:20 p.m., according to a press release. A boat was damaged during the storm, and the seven people on board abandoned the vessel and swam to a sandbar.

According to the release, all seven people declined medical treatment once safely rescued.

“We’ve had no reports of any injuries or folks that require assistance, but due to the damage, we’re taking our time to do a primary survey to make sure that there is nobody in need,” Hoy said.

Annie Willis, who lives just outside of Osage City, said the storm seemed to come out of nowhere.

“I couldn’t see anything at all for a few minutes. I looked out, and it was just white. And then I came out, and my barn was collapsed, and things torn up, but not my house. It seemed to spare my house,” Willis said.

Osage City is in Eastern Cole County and Cole County Emergency Services said its responding to the area along with other public safety partners.

Jefferson City Police also posted to social media that traffic was delayed in the area of Route J and Algoa Road due to debris.

The city of Versailles was also hit with storms. An ABC 17 News reporter saw multiple downed trees in the cemetery.

Carport in the driveway of a home on South Oak Street in Versailles.

Versailles Emergency Management coordinator Ashley Bland confirmed a carport hit the roof of a house on South Oak Street. The carport was blown from about a block away, and it also appeared to be tangled in wires attached to a utility pole.

Debbie Delph, a Versailles resident who was outside attending a booth at a flea market when the storm hit, said the storm was violent.

“We thought it was a tornado, we really did, because it was that strong. Between the storm coming through and the wind, it was more like a tornado,” she said.

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