UM System president expresses frustration with downtown safety

University of Missouri System President Mun Choi is again demanding that city leaders improve safety for Columbia residents following another incident downtown.

This time, he called on city leaders to revoke the liquor license of Reign Bar on North Ninth Street.

“We continue to experience violent fights and gunfire outside Reign Bar. How many warnings about this establishment do you need to hear before meaningful action is taken?” Choi wrote in an email Sunday to Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, City Manager De’Carlon Seewood and First Ward Council Member Valerie Carroll.

A man was arrested near the corner of Ninth and Walnut streets Sunday after being seen with a gun and putting it down on the sidewalk before being detained. Police said the man was arrested on charges of fourth-degree assault, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful discharge of a firearm.

No property damage or injuries were reported.

An MU alert sent around 1:22 a.m. urged residents to avoid the area.

The gun discharge occurred just two weeks after multiple incidents that took place at the same intersection, resulting in seven arrests. Video circulating on social media showed Columbia police officers using pepper spray and handcuffing participants involved in the fight.

Choi sent the city’s leadership an email after that incident, too.

Reign Bar opened in December. A document on file with the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office lists Brandi Gales as the owner of the establishment.

Gales could not be reached for comment.

The Missourian briefly reviewed 911 dispatch calls for the past year and could not find any calls specifically tied to the bar’s address. However, the dispatch database turned up 37 calls to an area identified as the “0 block of North Ninth Street.” Fifteen of the calls were officers checking on a suspect or checking the area, six calls were for disturbing the peace and two involved liquor law violations.

“I implore you to take appropriate action to hold this establishment, and any other establishment contributing to these conditions, accountable. The recurring violence demonstrates that the owner is NOT taking adequate steps to maintain a safe environment,” Choi wrote.

“That establishment repeatedly creates and contributes to unsafe conditions that lead to violence,” he wrote.

Buffaloe has previously stated she is seeking suggestions to assist with the town’s safety, but does not want the good side of Columbia to go unacknowledged.

“There are so many great things happening downtown that reflect our community’s true spirit. It’s unfortunate when incidents like the one you shared happen, and then continue to get re-shared on social media, taking away from the positive events,” Buffaloe wrote in an email April 20, responding to Choi’s concerns after a University of Iowa shooting incident left five injured, three of those being university students.

In Columbia, after video of an April 11 fight on Walnut Street spread on social media, Choi wrote in an email to city leaders: “We were fortunate that the fight in Columbia didn’t end in gunshots and injuries, but we are sitting on a time bomb.”

Choi has been a vocal critic of the city’s efforts to keep downtown safe since Sept. 27, when a 21-year-old Stephens College student was shot and killed outside a different downtown bar. In the weeks that followed that Homecoming Weekend shooting, Choi exchanged emails with city leaders, met with Gov. Mike Kehoe to discuss the situation and led a nighttime walk through downtown.