Columbia teen accused of using AR-15 to threaten family over weekend; city looks to conduct gun violence analysis after recent events
Madison Stuerman
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Columbia teenager has been charged after he was accused of threatening a family with a gun on Saturday.
Chauncey Williams, 19, is charged with armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A hearing was scheduled for Monday.
Court documents state a victim reported a man in a gray Buick sedan had pointed a gun at the family while standing outside a home on the 4600 block of Rice Road at 3:50 p.m. Saturday.
Police reported the victim saw two men in the car. They also felt terrified and “scared to death” that the children would get hurt, according to court documents.
Using Flock cameras, investigators matched a gray Buick to Williams, which was found on Santa Barbara Drive. Police said he allegedly admitted to driving in the area and that the gun was his.
Court documents state Williams allegedly told police after being detained, “they son just got shot and they mad, I know who stay out there.”
Police included the victim’s son was shot in the face on Tuesday. Williams allegedly told police that he had problems in the past with the victim’s family. Court documents say police on Saturday found a black rifle and a gun with 40 rounds loaded in the car. A wallet with Williams’ driver’s license was also found, according to police.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Office reported on Tuesday that a 15-year-old was shot in the face while inside a home on the 800 block of North Parkview Court.
Last week’s incident isn’t the only youth-related gun violence in Columbia this year. On May 27 this year, an 18-year-old was shot and killed on North Frideriki Drive. Anthony K. Marine, 17, was charged last month with second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon in the death of a person identified in a probable cause statement by the initials Z.N.
Fewer than a month later, 18-year old Zarian Simpson was shot and killed at Eastgate Apartments at Old 63 and Broadway. A youth in that case was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.
D’Markus Thomas-Brown with Columbia’s Office of Violence Prevention said there are several factors driving an increase in violence involving youth, especially since the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“We’re five years past it (the COVID-19 pandemic) but I think there’s traumas, there’s mental health diagnoses, all kind of things that happened with COVID that has exacerbated that,” he said. “You got gun access that is like we have unparalleled access to firearms,”
A lack of mentors in the community and those who struggle to adhere to mentorship is also a driving factor, Brown said.
To help intervene, Thomas-Brown says the city plans to partner with the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform to conduct a gun violence problem analysis. The study would examine patterns and drivers of youth violence in Columbia during the past 12-24 months.
The Columbia City Council still has to approve the plan. If it passes, the analysis would begin early next year and take four-to-six months to complete.
“We really got to be strategic and evidence based to see what’s going on,” Thomas-Brown said. “What has been going on, what’s going on and what that looks like with our analysis so that we can bring strategic solutions,”
A violence reduction landscape analysis is also in the works, according to Thomas-Brown.
“Who’s intervening where folks work and where can we look to coer where we’re struggling right now because we don’t want just to isolate,” Thomas-Brown said. “We don’t want this to grow to where this becomes an issue throughout the whole city,”
The violence reduction landscape analysis, Thomas-Brown says will focus more on community engagement, to see who is connecting with at-risk youth.
‘I don’t know who’s talking to the youth, who’s talking to those more at risk of being shot or shooting, who’s talking to that individual and asking them what’s going on so this analysis will be that, definitely have youth input,”
Retaliation plays a role in youth violence as one incident can trigger a cycle of back-and-forth threats, shootings, and confrontations among young people. Thomas-Brown says the Office of Violence Prevention does not want to hinder investigations and will stay communal.
However, he says the office will reach out to community members who may know the individuals involved to learn what’s going on, if there are plans for retaliation or any planned meet-ups that could escalate the violence.
He hopes that as the Office of Violence Prevention grows, it will eventually have a team that can be deployed into the community within the first 24-48 hours after an incident. Thomas-Brown said evidence and best practices show that people often decide whether they will retaliate within that same 24-48-hour window.
“Be out in front of the parents, maybe there’s things they would tell them that they wouldn’t tell law enforcement, and then they would be able to bridge the gap of those who are shooting, because sometimes people know and they don’t know,” he said. “We want to be out in front of that and help make a better decision. We need street teams that are able to go out and know those who are most at risk.”
