Analysis shows murders down in Columbia overall, but increase in shots fired downtown
A downtown shooting Nov. 14 in the vicinity of Vibez Lounge that left a suspect dead by police and five injured in the gunfight between suspects put a renewed spotlight on violent and gun-related crime in Columbia.
The Tribune looked at available data to examine any trends over the past three years.
As of analysis conducted this week, violent crime is on pace to hold steady across the city compared to last year. Reporting by the Columbia Police Department of violent crime in the city still ranges from 400 to 600 instances per year over the past five years, with a reporting high of 610 in 2017.
Violent crime is comprised of murder, including non-negligent manslaughter; robbery; aggravated assault; and sexual assault.
The Tribune put its focus on shots-fired reports and murder.
More: Judge denies bond for suspect in Nov. 14 Vibez Lounge shooting
After 555 incidents of violent crime in Columbia last year, there have been 521 incidents through the first 11 months of 2021. A majority of violent crime this year (292 incidents) has involved a firearm or dangerous weapon, even if the firearm was not shot.
The city is on track to have fewer murders than the past couple of years. There have been five so far this year, compared to 13 in 2020 and 12 in 2019.
Shots-fired reports down across city, despite downtown increase
Police Chief Geoff Jones at a community briefing Nov. 14 noted that it is uncommon for shootings to occur in downtown Columbia.
"This is pretty out of the ordinary. That is why it has drawn so much attention," he said of the Vibez Lounge shooting that day. "Part of this is people have gone to guns instead of fighting. ... When I was young, people used to fight. Now they pull guns on each other."
More: Chief vows Columbia police will be 'laser-focused' on Vibez Lounge, while owner defends the bar
Shots-fired reports back this up, as there has been a significant increase between this year and 2020 for the downtown area.
The Tribune received a list from the city of all shots-fired or shots-heard reports from Jan. 1, 2019, through Nov. 14 with locations and police officer beat designations.
The document lists all calls related to alleged shootings, so one location can have multiple reports. In the case of the Nov. 14 shooting outside Vibez Lounge, there were three separate reports.
More: Q&A: Police Chief Geoff Jones, Mayor Brian Treece on rise in violence in downtown Columbia
The Tribune looked at reports listed between June 1 to Nov. 14 in the past three years.
The number of downtown shootings ramped up in the last half of this year, with a majority happening in the vicinity of Vibez Lounge, which is why the Tribune focused on the same time frame for each year since 2019.
Police department officers are broken down into various numbered beats. The downtown beat is known as 70D, while other central beats adjacent to downtown to the northwest and southeast are known as beats 20 and 70, respectively, based on the police beat map available online.
The number of shots-fired calls has increased nearly six times compared to 2020 for the downtown beat — from three to 17. As noted previously, the increase could be multiple calls for the same incident. Taking out the multiple reports, there still were roughly 14 unique shots-fired reports made from the downtown area from June 1 to Nov. 14.
Columbia Mayor Brian Treece at the community briefing noted his frustration with the state's Second Amendment Preservation Act, signed in June by Gov. Mike Parson.
"If we want to talk about working together, we need to address the Second Amendment Preservation Act that prohibits local law enforcement from working with the federal ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) to make sure federal felons cannot possess handguns," Treece said. "We had a joint violent crimes task force. CPD officers were deputized but now our hands are tied.
"What we are seeing here is the consequence of that."
The two beats adjacent to downtown also have seen increased shots-fired reports over the past couple of years.
The northwest central beat (20) went from 39 reports in 2019 to 49 in 2020 and 52 in 2021 during the roughly 4 1/2-month analysis period. The southeast central beat (70) went from six reports in 2019 to nine in 2020 and 13 in 2021.
The number of shots fired throughout the city is down during that time frame when compared to 2020. The total of shots-fired reports from June 1 to Nov. 14 this year in Columbia was 236. The same period in 2020 it was 283, while in 2019 it was 217.
Murder on decline after jump in 2019
While violent crime is holding steady in 2021 compared to the past couple of years throughout Columbia, incidents of murder are down.
Data compiled via the ShowMeCrime data dashboard through the Missouri Highway Patrol is available through a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The city's now-stunted violent crimes task force was created in early 2020 to address the jump in murder in 2019.
"(Shootings aren't) a police-only issue. This is a community issue that is going to take responsible business owners and responsible community partners — and that's in The District and outside," Jones said at the Nov. 14 briefing.
"Our homicide clearance rates are much higher than they were three years ago, and the number of homicides is half of what it was last year," he added.
Jones also has personal issues with the gun rights act signed by Parson.
"When you make laws that take away the ability for people to partner to stop criminal behavior, a lot of people should stand up and take notice and they should fix it," he said, noting this was his personal opinion and not as a representative of the city.
"I have come in here over and over and said I protect the Constitution," Jones said. "That doesn't mean people have the right for people to go out and shoot people and get away with it."
The legislation means the city's police department does not have a way to compare physical evidence, such as shell casings, between cases happening in Columbia and elsewhere because of the collaboration limitations, Jones said.
As previously noted, there has been the presence of a firearm in 211 of this year's 521 violent crimes in Columbia, according to the ShowMeCrime dashboard. In 2020, it was 238 out of 555 crimes, while in 2019 it was 46 out of 403, though the reporting appears incomplete. This does not necessarily mean that the firearm was shot, but it was present in the commission of a violent crime.
Of the five murders so far in 2021, a firearm was used in four. In 2020, 11 of the 13 murders involved a firearm, while in 2019 at least eight of the 12 murders did.
Treece wants to work with community partners and the police department so that Columbia can be a safe place to live and work.
"Whether you are going to an outdoor music concert or to a movie theater or out to dinner downtown or walking home from dinner to the Broadway Hotel," Treece said, "we shouldn't have our lives interrupted by gun violence."
"It's going to take peer pressure to shut down bad actors who are allowing this to happen," he concluded.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Gun-related murders down in Columbia, downtown shooting incidents up
