Category: kmiz-local-news

Haley Swaino

One person was hospitalized after a shooting in downtown Columbia early Saturday morning.

According to a Facebook post from the Columbia Police Department, officers were called around 2:30 a.m. to Eighth and Walnut Streets for reports of shots fired. One victim was found and taken to the hospital.

CPD Lieutenant Anthony Bowne said an officer heard shots fired and called it in. He wasn’t able to confirm whether the victim had been shot or what their condition was.

An ABC 17 News reporter arrived on scene around 3 a.m. and saw about 16 Columbia police cruisers blocking off the area from Eighth Street to Ninth Street.

The reporter also noticed that the police expanded the perimeter of the scene. The first expansion was around 3:30 a.m. near Walnut and Eighth Streets to block off the columns at the Boone County Courthouse. The perimeter was expanded on the other side as well, to include the intersection of Walnut and Ninth Streets. The intersection was reopened around 5:30 a.m.

Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe said she was frustrated with the incident in a Facebook post.

“I am beyond frustrated with the reports of senseless gun violence in the early hours of Saturday morning that resulted in a victim being sent to the hospital,” Buffaloe wrote.

She also said she’s keeping up on updates from city leadership.

At the time of Buffaloe’s post, CPD had been investigating the incident for about five and a half hours.

University of Missouri System President Mun Choi told ABC 17 News that the victim wasn’t an MU student. Choi has been asking the city to crack down on crime since a deadly downtown shooting in 2025.

“I spoke with CPD this morning and learned that the victim is not affiliated with Mizzou.  The continuing violence in that part of downtown is of great concern and that’s the reason that I advised students, faculty and staff to avoid that area,” Choi wrote in an email.

Choi has called Walnut Street between Eighth and Tenth Streets the “danger zone.” At the beginning of the fall semester, Choi told students to avoid that area of town late at night.

It has become a hot spot for crime. In early August, there was a shots-fired call–no one was hurt, but one person was arrested. In late July, there was a large street brawl in that area, resulting in several people being arrested.

One longtime Columbia resident, Miranda Sutphin, said that due to all the incidences that happen in Downtown Columbia, she is nervous about being there.

“I do get nervous, you never know what other people’s agendas are and you never know what other people are thinking, what other conflicts are out here, so everybody does think what’s going to happen,” Sutphin said. “‘Am I going to be caught in a cross line fire?’ ‘Am I going to be in the middle of something and I don’t even know it?’ so there’s a lot of people who don’t want to come downtown because we’re nervous about everything that keeps happening.”

With the increase in police enforcement during Halloween weekend, Sutphin said that she is wondering how the shooting from Saturday morning could have happened.

“With police presence, you would think it would deter crime, but those are the ones who think that they’re slick and they’re going to come out,” Sutphin said. “We don’t have answers yet, and that’s what we’re wondering.”

Sutphin said she wants downtown Columbia to go back to how it used to be, and for residents to stop blaming individuals and work together as a community.

“We need to find community. We need to get back to how the old days used to be, where we help each other,” Sutphin said.

All crime scene tape came down around 8:45 a.m.

Check back for updates.

Click here to follow the original article.

Steven Lambson

Columbia, MO (KMIZ)

David Phil Ballenger, a lifelong Columbia citizen and pastor of Log Providence Missionary Baptist Church since 1983, died at his home on Oct. 22, according to an obituary by Millard Family Chapels.

In his lifetime, Ballenger served on numerous education and community boards, including the Columbia Board of Education, Board of Columbia Regional Hospital, Board of Children’s Hospital and the Board of Directors for the Thompson Center.

He was installed as pastor at Log Providence MBC in 1983 and served in the role until his death.

Ballenger was born in 1947 and attended Douglas School, which was segregated at the time, before transitioning to Jefferson Junior High School and Hickman High School. After graduation from Hickman, Ballenger went to college in Kirksville, after which he worked for IBM in its marketing department for more than 30 years.

Ballenger is survived by his wife Sandra, two children, and seven grandchildren.

Condolences may be left online for the family at www.parkermillard.com.

Click here to follow the original article.

Steven Lambson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The statewide cold weather rule, which prevents heat-related utility disconnections on particularly cold days, begins November 1.

The rule applies on days when the temperatures are predicted to drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. for a 72-hour period.

According to the Missouri Public Service Commission, while the rule is in effect from November to the end of March, there are other protections for customers as well. Those include extended payment plans, more lenient payment terms and more notification requirements before any disconnections.

Customers age 65 and older or who have disabilities can also register with their provider for other assistance.

The cold weather rule will be in effect until March 31, 2027.

Click here to follow the original article.

Steven Lambson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man arrested for shooting a gun at a Columbia apartment complex in 2025 pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful use of a weapon on Monday, according to online court records.

At the time of his arrest in May 2025, Gabino Hernandez told police he had been drugged at a bar and didn’t remember what happened.

Witnesses told police Hernandez was “out of it” when he fired a gun in the parking lot and stairwell of Aria Apartments. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Hernandez was originally charged with two counts of armed criminal action but those were dropped when he pleaded guilty.

Hernandez’s sentencing is scheduled for December 18 at 2:30 p.m.

Click here to follow the original article.

Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) 

Columbia police are planning additional downtown enforcement for Halloween as bars prepare for larger crowds Saturday night, with the department expecting a busy evening but not necessarily one of its busiest weekends of the year.

The Columbia Police Department will bring in additional officers to work downtown on overtime, redeploy existing officers from other parts of the city and hold over shifts if needed, Assistant Chief Mark Fitzgerald told ABC 17 News in an email.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, a combination local bar managers expect to bring more people downtown.

Marlon Thompson, who works at Reign Bar, said the business is looking forward to the holiday weekend and has events planned for Saturday, including a trunk-or-treat from 4 to 7 p.m. and a costume contest.

“We got our security and everything in place and then we got law enforcement outside doing their thing. So give it up for our law enforcement out there. Make sure they on their game tomorrow,” Thompson said.

Jesse, a manager at Son of a Gun Bar, said Halloween typically brings a large crowd, with customers dressing up and going out to celebrate. The bar plans to host a costume contest and offer giveaways, including merchandise.

“It’s pretty crazy. It does get pretty busy here on Halloween. This is my first year bartending for it but I know in years past its been pretty crazy and everybody loves to dress up and come out and have a good time,” Jesse said.

She expects the Saturday holiday could put some additional strain on staff.

Managers at 9th Street Public House said they do not have major Halloween events planned but will be fully staffed, as they would be for any other Saturday night. However they added that Halloween falling during the middle of the week would be more difficult to plan for from a staffing standpoint.

Fitzgerald said the day of the week can have a greater impact on police activity than Halloween itself. He expects Saturday to be busy, particularly downtown, but said he does not anticipate crowds reaching the level of a home football game weekend.

Halloween comes during a time of year when Columbia police have historically seen elevated activity.

A CPD presentation on downtown crime trends and enforcement strategies, delivered ahead of a City Council meeting Oct. 5, showed the department received 556 calls for service in October 2025. That was the second-highest monthly total of the year, behind September’s 577 calls.

October also had the most arrests of any month in 2025, with 98. July had the second-highest total, with 68.

The numbers were different in 2024. Police recorded 642 calls for service in October, the third-highest monthly total behind September’s 675 and August’s 651. October saw 34 arrests that year, second only to September’s 41.

Fitzgerald said Halloween typically is not an especially high-volume night for police calls, unlike holidays such as the Fourth of July. While crowds can increase the department’s workload, he said they are generally spread throughout the city rather than concentrated in one area.

He also said police have seen violent crime peak during the fall in several past years, but does not believe Halloween is responsible for that trend.

Fitzgerald said there is significant variation in calls, arrests and investigations from one day to the next, making it difficult to predict exactly how busy a particular night will be. Fitzgerald added the department will also have its regular swing shifts working during the evening hours when trick-or-treating activity is expected in neighborhoods.

The department’s staffing plans can change depending on the day of the week and the expected crowd size. Fitzgerald said CPD can redeploy officers from elsewhere in the city and hold over shifts if additional coverage is needed.

For downtown businesses, the Saturday holiday means preparing for a busy night. For police, it means adding coverage while relying on the department’s normal staffing structure to handle activity across the rest of Columbia.

Click here to follow the original article.

Erika McGuire

CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Firefighters with the Northwest Fire Protection District responded to a natural cover fire that spread to a home Thursday.

At 11:32 a.m., firefighters were dispatched to Pine Cove Road in Edwards, Missouri, for a small natural cover fire in the backyard of a home.

Within 13 minutes of the initial call, firefighters arrived to find the home engulfed in flames.

Additional units were called to the scene to help battle the house fire and the surrounding natural cover fire.

Firefighters faced challenges due to the difficult terrain and the home’s location, making it harder to establish a water supply.

According to the Northwest Fire Protection District, the home was considered a total loss.

No injuries were reported.

Click here to follow the original article.

Steven Lambson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The city of Sedalia and the Missouri Ethics Commission agreed on a letter of concern related to Facebook posts made earlier in 2026, according to a filing on the MEC’s website.

According to the filing, the commission investigating a complaint about posts on the city’s official Facebook account which “contained language relative to the merits of mayoral candidates in the April 2026 municipal election.”

A city employee made the posts without approval, and the posts were not meant to be official statements from the city, according to the commission’s filing. It further said the city “promptly dealt with the situation and has since taken measures to strengthen the oversight of official communications.”

The commission filing cited state statutes that public funds are not to be used to support or advocate for or against any candidate for public office.

It finds that the city did violate state statutes, and as a result the letter of concern will remain as an open record and public document.

It was signed by Sedalia mayor Traves Williams, MEC executive director Stacey Heislen, and attorneys for each party.

Sedalia Letter of ConcernDownload

Click here to follow the original article.

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

It has been a little more than two weeks since the Missouri Office of Administration launched the Show Me Your Age verification tool, and a Missouri-based dispensary is still considering different verification programs.

Users can access Show Me Your Age through the MOA’s website without creating an account. The site will prompt users to allow camera access to scan the barcode on the back of a driver’s license. Users can also input a person’s birthday to calculate someone’s age.

The state plans for the program to be used by retailers of adult products like alcohol and cannabis to reduce the number of illegal and underage purchases. They add that the program does not save ID data to the user’s phone or back to the state.

Missouri Petroleum & Convenience Association Executive Director Ron Leone told ABC 17 News that, because of the recent rollout, he’s unsure whether many retailers have adopted the technology.

Cannabis dispensary Shangri La is reviewing Show Me Your Age along with other verification software. The company currently uses the VeriScan platform, which also features facial scan technology.

“It’s identifying the visual to make sure you’re not borrowing my ID or vice versa, that it’s an actual person in the ID that’s checking in,” Shangri La Regional Manager Alec Orr said.

Orr added that accuracy is an important trait of verification software.

“If there’s any scanning issues, they get eliminated quickly, that’ll be something that’ll be impactful for us to change over if we take that route,” Orr said. “Consistency is a big thing that can work good for our customers as they walk into the door and have a good interaction.”

Click here to follow the original article.

ABC 17 News Team

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Week 10 of the Missouri high school football season kicked off on Friday night.

You can find scores from all of your Mid-Missouri teams below, as well as highlights in the video player above.

Click here to follow the original article.

Stephi Smith

MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Some residents at Sherwood Glen Apartments are facing eviction after losing access to a federal rental assistance program.

Tenants at Sherwood Glen Apartments, located at 1000 S. William St. in Moberly, previously received rental assistance through a U.S. Department of Agriculture program designed to help lower-income households in rural communities afford housing.

The apartments were previously managed by Maco Management Co. Property manager Ivan Thomas said the complex was sold June 15, and the new owners hired HomeWise Properties, a Moberly-based rental property management company, to manage the apartments.

Thomas said the original USDA program was only available to the property’s original owners, meaning the new owners could not continue participating in it.

Thomas said USDA initially told HomeWise that residents would be able to receive replacement vouchers through a separate assistance program within 60 to 90 days.

But after about 90 days, Thomas said the USDA told the property owners that it had run out of funding and residents would have to wait for additional federal funding to become available.

ABC 17 reached out to the USDA for comment and has not yet received a response.

Thomas said HomeWise has encouraged residents to apply for a separate USDA voucher program. He said the property owners are also accepting reduced rent payments from residents who previously received assistance while they wait for their applications to be approved.

Thomas said management has accepted, on average, approximately one-third or less of the full rent from those tenants.

“Say the previous program was paying $900 and the tenant had to pay $76. Well, if they don’t pay $76, then we’re going to evict because you’re not even doing what … you were doing before,” Thomas said. “… The property owner is losing, you know, tens of thousands of dollars in an effort to give the USDA time to hopefully be funded.”

Thomas estimated the property owners are losing about $10,000 a month because of the reduced rent payments. He said the owners do not want to evict residents simply because the federal assistance program ended.

“We’ve opted to generally only evict those who have not contributed towards their rent amount the same as they were prior to the sale because the vouchers and the program only pay part of the rent,” Thomas said. 

HomeWise has filed 15 petitions for recovery of possession for nonpayment of rent this year, according to records on Case.net. The filings show amounts claimed ranging from approximately $1,000 to $5,000.

One resident said nearly all of their rent was previously covered through the USDA program. The resident said their monthly housing costs could increase to approximately $1,000 without the assistance.

This resident said they have concerns about eviction after receiving a court summons last month. 

Thomas said residents facing eviction generally have not paid their previous portion of the rent or have not completed applications for the replacement USDA voucher program. He said management has given residents nearly five months to complete the applications.

Also, Thomas said not all of those 15 petitions were related to the USDA funding. He said 

Thomas said one resident who had applied for the replacement voucher program and continued paying their portion of the rent is also facing eviction, but for a separate lease violation.

Two Sherwood Glen residents spoke with ABC 17 under the condition of anonymity, citing concerns about possible retaliation.

Thomas also confirmed that rents increased by approximately $20 following the sale of the property.

He said USDA assessed the property’s rental rates before the sale and determined that two-bedroom apartments could be rented for $998 a month and one-bedroom apartments for $898 a month.

Previously, two-bedroom apartments rented for $976 a month, while one-bedroom apartments rented for $876.

Thomas said the previous owners waited until after the sale to implement the increases. He said the new owners chose to keep rents at the amounts USDA had previously approved rather than raise them further.

Click here to follow the original article.