The crack of pool balls colliding on beaten felt tables is the typical soundtrack for a weekend night at Billiards on Broadway.
On Saturday, however, the soundtrack was interrupted by the blast of gunshots across the street.
Cody Fisher, server and bartender, said he heard several shots fired at the corner of Sixth Street and Broadway around 12:15 a.m. Saturday. Another bartender locked the door and alerted customers over the bar microphone.
“We’re going to lock these doors until we figure out what’s going on,” Fisher remembered the bartender saying.
Saturday was one of five incidents involving shots fired in downtown Columbia since July 1. That’s a significant spike compared to the past several years.
In the more than six years between Jan. 1, 2012, and June 30 of this year, there were a total of 18 reports of shots fired downtown, according to a Missourian analysis of Columbia Police Department data.
In some incidents, people were injured.
“Of course this is disturbing,” said Second Ward Councilman Mike Trapp. “Downtown draws a lot of attention, and these incidents are bad timing with students returning and so many people becoming newly acquainted with Columbia.”
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