Columbia Police officers shot and killed a man while responding to a shooting at Vibez Lounge on Sunday morning that also left five people injured.
The shooting was one of several similar incidents in recent weeks, prompting Mayor Brian Treece and Police Chief Geoff Jones to characterize Sunday's gun violence as a "community issue" extending beyond the purview of police.
At a news conference Sunday morning, Jones said two Columbia officers responded to gunshots at Vibez at around 3 a.m. and saw two people engaging in gunfire. The suspects fled in opposite directions on North Fifth Street.
One suspect fired a gun into a crowd of people as he ran, Jones said. The officers pursued him into a nearby alley where they shot and killed him.
The suspect was identified as a 30-year-old male. The whereabouts of the second suspect in the shooting at Vibez are unknown.
The five people injured are all in stable condition, Jones said, including one who had emergency surgery.
Jones said the Police Department has identified, but is not yet releasing, the name of the man killed, but said his next of kin have been notified. He said one of the two shooting suspects is from Columbia but had no details about the other one.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating the actions of the two officers involved, which is standard practice, Jones said.
MU issued an alert around 3:10 a.m. reporting "shots fired" near Vibez at 19 N. Fifth St. MU Police sent an all-campus email later Sunday addressing the shooting and providing a link to a recording of the news conference.
MUPD said it is considering several changes, including a new protocol for issuing MU Alerts for downtown incidents and exploring the use of "temporary lighting" and "additional permanent cameras" downtown.
"Our community has experienced multiple incidents of senseless gun crimes in the past several weeks," Treece said at Sunday's news conference, calling the incident a "mass casualty event."
Jones defined a mass casualty event as one resulting in "multiple victims at one scene."
He emphasized that police were present in the immediate area of the shooting. The Police Department had just increased foot patrols in downtown Columbia this weekend in response to a string of shootings in recent weeks.
"Both of these cases had police officers on the scene running towards gunfire," Treece said, referring to last weekend's shooting outside of Gold Bar Restaurant. "I don't know how you get more brazen than that."
Treece placed some responsibility for addressing gun violence on bars and property owners. "If there's guns and students and alcohol, that's a potent cocktail that doesn't mix," he said.
He also raised the possibility of strengthening regulations on bars to prevent further gun violence. "We can either shut down two bars, or we can have no drink specials, (or) 12 o'clock closings, 11:30 closings for everybody — and I don't think people want that."
Treece also cited the state's Second Amendment Preservation Act as an issue, saying the city's gun violence is partly a consequence. The law prohibits local enforcement of federal gun laws.
Treece said the city's Violent Crime Task Force had been working last year to address gun violence in Columbia, but "their hands are now tied" by SAPA.
"This isn't a police-only issue. This is a community issue that is going to take responsible business owners, responsible community partners," Jones said.
Reporter Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed to this report.
