Category: kmiz-local-news

Olivia Hayes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man accused in a domestic shooting was denied bond Wednesday.

Michael Anthony Davis, 40, will remain in the Cole County Jail after Cole County Judge Joseph Shetler ruled against allowing him out on bond. Davis is charged with first-degree domestic assault, three counts of armed criminal action and one count each of first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

The probable cause statement says Jefferson City police were investigating a crash in the 1800 block of Highway 50/63 East when they heard multiple shots being fired nearby.

Two women with life-threatening gunshot wounds were found in a vehicle in a wooded area in the 110 block of Cordell St., the statement says. They were brought to University Hospital in Columbia.

A witness described seeing a woman arguing with Davis, and Davis allegedly pulled out a long gun, the statement says. The witness did not see shots being fired, but they heard several shots in a row, the statement says. Police found roughly 30 shell casings in the 900 block of Harding Street, and Davis was arrested shortly after.

Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson confirmed one of the woman was the wife of Davis, the other woman was her friend. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that there have been more than 200 victims of domestic violence in Jefferson City in 2025 so far, 75% of those victims were women.

Thompson said cases of domestic abuse can come with their own type of challenges.

“You’ll have individuals in those cases who are caught up in the cycle of domestic violence. There’s a certain type of manipulation that goes on by the defendant and that can make it very difficult sometimes,” Thompson said.

He explained the different ways the prosecutor’s office could approach a domestic assault case.

“We do the best we can. We try to, when we may not have a cooperative victim, go with evidence based prosecution. Photographs of injuries, witness statements, things like that,” Thompson said.

Lori Haney, Executive Director for Citizens Against Spousal Abuse – Sedalia, says the cycle of domestic abuse starts with emotional abuse.

“Trying to control what the victim wears, where they may go, who they communicate with, losing resources, losing their job, losing access to transportation, access to money,” Haney said.

She explained how things can escalate even further from there.

“Then, you have that explosive phase where that abuse incident or incidents occurs and then there’s kind of a calming down period where an abuser may even feel remorseful and apologetic,” Haney said.

Haney said that have a safety plan is the first step to getting away from an abusive situation.

“Legal documents and identification are your first and foremost priority,” Haney said. “From there, where is going to be a safe place to go and I really have to highly recommend contacting victim service agencies in and around your area.”

Thompson said the prosecutors office has resources for those experiencing domestic abuse. He said local and county law enforcement in the area can also help victims find available resources.

Davis appeared through video call from Cole County Jail Wednesday and was read his charges. Davis did not have an attorney present.

Judge Joseph Shetler said Davis was a danger to the community due to the nature of the charges. Davis is scheduled for another bond review on Friday and a hearing on Oct. 30.

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Haley Swaino

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

As the government shutdown enters its second week, food banks across the country are preparing for increased demand.

One Washington, D.C., food bank estimated roughly 75,000 federal workers are living paycheck-to-paycheck. And in the event of furloughs, if the shutdown extends for an extended period, affected households may need assistance.

Most federal employees work outside of the Washington metropolitan area — 57,100 federal employees were working in Missouri as of January, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.

Food banks in the Show-Me State are preparing for possible increased need.

“We want to do our due diligence and plan for the worst,” Katie Adkins, a spokesperson at the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri, said.

Food insecurity is already at the highest level in nearly a decade, according to Adkins.

“At the same time, we are serving a lot of people,” Adkins said. “We are seeing that need is continuing. We haven’t seen a lull, and now we have the holiday season right around the corner. And that often brings some additional challenges because people are thinking about how they’re going to put food on the table for Thanksgiving.”

While need has stayed relatively consistent at The Food Bank through the shutdown’s first week, Adkins said they’re expecting to see more people seeking help if it extends to a point of delayed paychecks or benefits.

“Many people in our community are one last paycheck away from from needing some help,” Adkins said. “And we’re rapidly approaching a first missed paycheck with the government shutdown.”

Military members are in danger of missing a paycheck on Oct. 15, if the shutdown drags on.

ABC 17 News reached out to Armed Services YMCA in Fort Leonard Wood to see how it’s preparing.

“With nearly 25 percent of junior enlisted military already experiencing food insecurity, the need is always urgent. We’ve seen a significant increase in our food pantry distributions and needs. The ASYMCA is working to expand our distribution across our many branches to ensure military families have reliable access to food and resources during this difficult time,” an ASYCMA spokesperson said in an statement.

The shutdown could also disrupt key programs such as SNAP, according to previous reporting.

“We are prepared for some new folks, especially people who may never have had to come to a pantry or soup kitchen, coming to visit for the first time.”” Adkins said.

In fiscal year 2022, 603,930 people in 296,276 households received SNAP benefits in Missouri, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Right now, food is expensive, transportation is expensive. And so we’re working with more limited resources than we have in the past,” Adkins said.

The shutdown comes as there’s already a strain on food banks. Adkins said The Food Bank has seen donations decline over the last few years.

“Manufacturers are just becoming very good at estimating what supply and demand is going to look like for them,” Adkins said. “We have known that that’s a challenge that we faced, we have continued to increase our retail rescue efforts.”

The Food Bank works with retailers across all 32 counties it serves to rescue items that may be nearing the end of their usable life.

“They’re good items,” Adkins said. “Typically, they’re the more nutritious items because they’re perishable. But those retailers, those stores, can’t get them out quickly enough. We serve around 100,000 people every single month, so we’re able to move them very quickly.”

Adkins said The Food Bank continues to look for new sources for rescue retail.

People needing support can visit The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri’s website.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

EDITOR’S NOTE: The meeting was moved to Oct. 22.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Sedalia Board of Appeals will meet on Wednesday to review the city’s dangerous building notice and demolition order, as the property owners argue that their properties are not in danger of collapsing.

The city has been actively collecting bids to demolish the buildings owned by Dana Melton and Travis Dixon at 207 and 209 W. Main St. Sedalia is looking to preserve other buildings that could be damaged in if those two were to collapse.

The city’s bids for demolition will end on Oct. 29 and the city council will review the bids in November.

A judge in July ruled the city has the ability to order a building to be demolished within its city limits.

Chief Building Official Bryan Kopp had determined the building at 207 West Main St. needed to be demolished to “protect the public,” court documents say. The city has described the building as being in “a state of collapse.”

However, an engineer hired by Melton and Dixon said in a report that the buildings can be saved and that the foundation was damaged from sidewalk work done by the city in 2022.

Melton and Dixon are asking the Sedalia Board of Appeals to go over and pause the demolition order while their evidence is considered.

According to the City of Sedalia, the owners submitted a proposal via their attorney in August. Melton and Dixon requested that the city hire and pay demolition contractors, reimburse the owners for engineering and attorney fees, permit the owners’ private engineer to oversee the work on-site and after demolition, backfill the lot to prepare it for future construction, among other conditions.

The city rejected the proposal, arguing that it shifted responsibility to the city and would have used public funds to improve a privately owned property.

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Matthew Sanders

The issue of violent crime is again dominating public conversation in Columbia this fall.

A Stephens College student from Columbia was killed last month as a random bystander in a shooting. The suspected killer used a handgun and allegedly fired 11 shots at innocent people.

Since then, University of Missouri President Mun Choi has called for action, and the Columbia Police Department has stepped up its patrols downtown on weekends.

Local officials have said they’re taking action, such as the increased patrols to tamp down on violent crime in Columbia, along with working with community groups. They also point out that guns are pervasive in the city, as police have found during their increased patrols.

Do you think city leaders are on the right track to reduce violent crime? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 26-year-old Macks Creek man was seriously injured Tuesday afternoon in a crash on Highway 7 in Camden County, just north of Bridge A-4336, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says the man drove a 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer northbound as it went off the road, overturned and hit a guardrail.

The man was brought to Lake Regional Hospital by ambulance. The report says he was wearing a seatbelt.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude called the number of legal guns being carried downtown “shocking” in her statement to Columbia city leaders at Monday night’s council meeting.

“Two of my assistant chiefs worked downtown over the weekend, and the remark that they made to me after the first night was they were absolutely shocked by the number of firearms that were being legally carried downtown,” Schlude said.

This follows what the department is calling proactive enforcement detail in downtown Columbia after a fatal shooting during the University of Missouri’s homecoming weekend. Aiyanna Williams, 21, was killed in the shooting.

CPD along with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office and the University of Missouri Police Department all played a role with approximately 27 law enforcement officers each night participating in the detail.

Schlude cited state gun laws as a factor for the number of guns noticed in the downtown area. In Missouri there’s no law that requires a driver to tell a police officer if they have a gun and officers cannot search a car for a gun without probable cause.

Schlude said on Friday CPD stopped 20 people — that were stopped for various reasons — were found to have guns on them. Schlude said the guns were returned to the people as they did not appear to be “patronizing any businesses downtown.”

“Over the two day, enforcement effort, we did 202 traffic stops, 83 check subjects. We wrote 57 citations. We made 27 custodial arrests, search 19 vehicles, 49 people frisked 17 people and there were 39 non-criminal citations.” Schlude said.

Schlude detailed how one of those arrests was made by CPD’s Street Crimes Unit on Friday. Officers arrested a man with a gun during a traffic stop at Eighth and Cherry streets. Damion Hunt was arrested on suspicion of illegal gun possession. Hunt was convicted of second-degree assault in connection with a 2019 downtown shooting, making him a felon.

Schlude said she was out on patrol Saturday night and on the first traffic stop she saw she said two officers were pulling people out of the car, and had to make a gun ‘safe’ that they had found in the car.

Dale Roberts, a local gun law expert and former head of the Columbia Police Officers’ Association, said that means officers clear the gun of and rounds.

“That means drop the magazine, rack the slide, lock the slide open, sit it down so the ejection port is facing up,” Roberts said.

Roberts said while people don’t have to tell officers they have a gun, it’s the smart thing to do.

“Most criminals are not going to go ‘I got guns in the car’, so a driver who out front says ‘I need to tell you I have a firearm in the car’ is less likely to be a threat to the officer,” Roberts said.

Schlude said CPD officers are constantly on high alert for guns with every interaction, especially downtown.

“They have to have a heightened sense of awareness and obviously concern because there are so many people armed downtown,” Schlude said.

State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) called the guns in Columbia an epidemic.

“There are too many guns on the streets, there are too many guns in the hands of criminals and I understand people want firearms for protection, but with the loose gun laws we have in Missouri, it allows far too many people to have their hands on them,” Tyson Smith said.

Roberts describe how restrictions from state and federal laws could affect an officer’s ability to respond.

“They encounter someone and that person has a handgun, they’re 17 years old or 16 years old, that’s not an offense under state law and the officers can’t really enforce federal law,” Roberts said.

Tyson Smith said gun laws at the state and federal level also contradict who is allowed to possess guns.

“At the state level, you can have a misdemeanor domestic assault and still carry a firearm,” Tyson Smith said. “You can’t do that at the federal level.”

Missouri State Senate Pro-Tem Cindy O’Laughlin (R-Shelbina) said in a statement to ABC 17 News the state needs to focus on enforcing its existing laws and hold violent offenders accountable.

“Restricting law-abiding citizens’ ability to defend themselves does nothing to stop criminals from committing crimes. Missouri’s focus should be on enforcing existing laws and holding violent offenders accountable, not creating new restrictions that punish responsible gun owners. The problem isn’t with citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights, it’s with those who choose to break the law,” the statement reads.

CPD also released a statement Tuesday following Schlude’s statements.

“At no time did the Columbia Police Department detain individuals merely to determine if they were armed, nor did we stop those carrying firearms just to verify if they were doing so lawfully,” the statement read.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia says it plans to make advocating for changing the state’s juvenile gun law a priority next year.

During its meeting Monday night, council members unanimously approved making amending the state law to match federal law regarding possession of handguns by minor a legislative priority in 2026. The council also approved other priorities, including increasing support for state emergency response agencies, as well as affordable housing initiatives.

Federal law prohibits the possession of a handgun or handgun ammunition by any person under the age of 18 with few exceptions, such as farming or hunting. However, Missouri law does not include any prohibitions on minors carrying or possessing firearms.

Mayor Barbara Buffaloe voiced her support for the change, also pushing for the city to advocate for legislation that would require lost or stolen guns to be reported to local law enforcement within 72 hours after discovery of the loss.

Buffaloe also told ABC 17 News on Tuesday evening that she’s hopeful Republican members of the state legislature will be open to matching the state law with federal law.

Lonnie Lockhart Bey works with at-risk youth at Destiny of H.O.P.E and said he would support the state law changing.

“I believe that to put a gun in the hands of a child who have emotional stability issues, I think it can always go bad,” Lockhart Bey said. “I think it’s a law that should be repealed. I don’t think it really benefits society. Why do children need guns? That’s what it all boils down to.”

Lockhart Bey said he supports the exception of a parent taking their child hunting and things of that nature, but believes allowing a child to legally possess a gun for other purposes does more harm than good.

He said while he supports the idea of the change, there’s a large issue at hand that needs to be tackled.

“I think that a lot of the conditions, the social conditions, the lack of opportunity, the food insecurities, lack of health care… all of those things play a part in the conditions that we see,” Lockhart Bey said.

Lockhart Bey said he also thinks the city needs to address the larger issue of how guns are getting into Columbia, saying all of the blame can’t be placed on parents.

Executive Director of Columbia Supreme Anthony Johnson said he sees both pros and cons to the state law changing. He said his biggest concern is that the change would lead to more Black children being charged with felonies and adult charges at a young age.

Johnson said he thinks the change wouldn’t address the root cause.

“I think the majority of times kids are getting the guns from cars but they’re not stealing from the car. They know that those guns are in the cars and someone put them in there and someone left the doors unlocked,” Johnson said. “There’s a bigger thing going on and those are the kind of things I want to see addressed.”

Check back for updates.

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Meghan Drakas

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

As of Monday, the Columbia Police Department has documented fewer than 7,400 crimes in Columbia in 2025, according to CPD’s crime dashboard.

During the investigation of each crime, police try and collect evidence to build a case. This evidence can include conversations, eye witness testimony and physical evidence such as documents, shell casings, surveillance video or a weapon.

CPD Lt. Matt Gremore said every officer has plastic gloves and evidence bags inside their cars.

“When I was a patrol officer, I would carry a box of these in my car just to have in case because they’re great for multiple reasons,” Gremore said. “If you’re picking up evidence or dealing with somebody bleeding, the gloves can protect your more, so there’s a lot of reasons you would want them.”

He said the biggest reason is to make sure police don’t contaminate the evidence they’re collecting at a crime scene. Gremore said once evidence is collected at a crime scene, it’s typically placed in a paper or plastic bag.

He said paper is used for DNA evidence for items that would mold in plastic such as shell casings. Gremore said if a scene has five, 9-millimeter shell casings, they can be collected in a box, taped with evidence tape, initialed by the seals and then placed into a paper bag.

CPD Lt. Matt Gremore on Sept. 18, 2025, shows how police put a shell casing into an evidence box, seal it with tape and initial the seal to protect the integrity of the evidence at a crime scene.

Evidence stored in plastic bags would include any evidence someone such as a prosecutor or detective would want to be able to see without having to open the bag. Gremore said evidence tape and initials are also used on plastic evidence bags. The bags have information sections which include information such as the crime, suspect, victim and time of recovery.

Yellow evidence markers are also placed along a crime scene to separate different pieces of evidence. At a shooting scene, it is a common occurrence to see police place yellow numerical markers near items including shell casings.

At least 24 evidence markers could be seen at the shooting scene of Jamar Hicks and two others along Trimble Road in east Columbia on July 16, 2017.

In 2024, Columbia police investigated 351 crimes involving a gun, according to data provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. According to Columbia’s crime dashboard, there were 110 shots fired incidents in 2024.

Gremore said it’s common for police to revisit a night time crime scene such as a shooting, to double check to see if any evidence is missed.

“Sometimes we have to go out with metal detectors [and] sometimes it’s better in the daylight,” Gremore said. “We actually utilize a dog with the ATF that can smell shell casings. I’ve seen it firsthand where the dog does fantastic work of finding items like that.”

Evidence is kept for different lengths of time depending on the statute of limitations for crimes, Gremore said.

“For example, [in a homicide case] the state as a law says you have to keep that evidence for a minimum of 50 years,” Gremore said. “Any evidence where there’s not a statute of limitations and it’s unsolved, you would keep that evidence indefinitely.”

But he said the statute of limitations changed in some cases for dealing with evidence once DNA became more involved in investigations.

Gremore said the location of where evidence is stored is very specific depending on the type of evidence and if there’s any testing being done on the object. He said some evidence for CPD will be stored at the MSHP Crime Lab, some goes to private labs and some is stored locally.

After a case has been solved, Gremore said eventually police will get a request from the prosecutor’s office to dispose of evidence. Depending on the type of evidence, he said it can be returned to the owner’s or it is disposed. If the evidence involved is money, a few things can happen to it.

“Depending on what the charge is, you can have money that goes to forfeiture or you have money that’s seized as an investigation,” Gremore said. “Typically, I would say a majority of the time, it is returned to the owner after a case is over. An example would be if you have a gas station that got robbed and the suspect’s caught with the money that they stole in the robbery, that money would be returned, eventually back to the owner of the gas station.”

Watch the latest “Mid-Missouri’s Cold Case Files: The Case of Jamar Hicks” at 10 p.m. Thursday on ABC 17 News.

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ABC 17 News Team

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe told ABC 17 News that she is no longer putting together a task force that addresses downtown crime.

She announced the task force after it was requested by University of Missouri System President Mun Choi after a Stephens College student, Aiyanna Williams, was shot and killed in downtown Columbia on Sept. 27, which was the weekend of MU’s homecoming.

Buffaloe described during an interview on Tuesday afternoon that it would be best to continue to work with existing groups who are trying to stop crime.

“After talking to law enforcement and the property owners and different people working in this space, we decided just to actually just keep doing the meetings we’re already doing. These groups were getting together, were getting together with the university officials, but one voice that I noticed is missing and, and I got to meet today with some students from the University of Missouri,” Buffaloe said.

The whole interview with Buffaloe can be viewed above. She also recently returned from the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s leadership retreat to Columbia, South Carolina, and described why she traveled and what she learned.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two people are in critical condition after they were shot Tuesday morning in the 1100 block of Cordell Street, according to a press release from the Jefferson City Police Department.

The release says officers were called at 5 a.m. for a “weapons offense” and found two people suffering from gunshot wounds. Both people were brought to an area hospital.

One person was detained after police searched the area, the release says. Police wrote the investigation is ongoing.

Michael Anthony Davis, 40, of Jefferson City, was charged with first-degree domestic assault, three counts of armed criminal action, one count of first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon in the shooting. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

Michael Anthony Davis/Cole County Jail

The probable cause statement says Jefferson City police were investigating a crash in the 1800 block of Highway 50/63 East when they heard multiple shots being fired.

Two women with life-threatening gunshot wounds were found in a vehicle in a wooded area, the statement says. They were brought to University Hospital in Columbia.

Police found roughly 30 shell casings in the 900 block of Harding Street and Davis was detained shortly after, the statement says.

A witness allegedly described seeing a woman arguing with Davis and Davis allegedly pulled out a long gun, the statement says. The witness did not see shots being fired, but they heard several shots in a row, the statement says.

Davis allegedly gave the witness keys to a gun safe and apologized, court documents say.

Davis allegedly told police that he does not like the second victim, who is a friend of one of the victim he resides with, court documents indicate. He got into an argument with the second victim when she arrived to the home, but did not enter it, court documents say.

Police wrote that Davis said he thought the first victim was being forced into a vehicle by the second victim and fired several rounds at the car.

A second witness is cited in the probable cause statement as hearing an argument between the first victim and Davis during a phone call. He allegedly heard the argument while the second victim was on the phone with “Victim 1.”

“Victim 1” could allegedly be heard telling Davis “you have the gun case open; you are loading the gun while we are arguing,” the probable cause statement says.

Neighbors describe scene

Neighbors said they were awakened by the sound of gunfire around 5 a.m.

“I woke up about 5 this morning to a very loud [noise]. I just thought somebody was trying to break into the house,” said Linda Kelso, who has lived on Cordell Street for the past five years. “The next thing, was the street was full of official vehicles — police, ambulances, fire trucks. The whole street was blocked off. I saw the police down there working; someone was giving CPR to someone on the ground that I couldn’t see.”

Another neighbor reiterated seeing first responders performing CPR after hearing what sounded like gunfire.

Tire marks could be seen on the street veering into the tree line next to a spot of blood on the curb.

Both neighbors ABC 17 News spoke to said the incident appeared to have stemmed from a house in the 900 block of Cordell Street. 

“There’s no damage on my car. But right here, there are all these kind of greasy, dirty marks. These are from a policeman with an assault rifle aimed at that house, balancing his gun on top of my car,” Kelso said. “I saw police walking the woman in handcuffs down the street.”

Kelso and the other neighbor described the couple who lived in the house as friendly and said they usually never had any incidents on the street.

ABC 17 News spoke to another woman at the property who said she was “not allowed to talk” about the incident.

“This is a very quiet neighborhood. We may not be wealthy, but we’re friendly and people help each other,” Kelso said. “It’s a tragedy.”

Check back for updates.

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