Columbia man charged with two felonies, two misdemeanors in downtown shots-fired

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 20-year-old man was charged Sunday with two misdemeanors and two felonies for allegedly firing shots in downtown Columbia.

Tavan Williams-Patrick of Columbia was charged with the felonies of armed criminal action and exhibiting a weapon illegally, along with the misdemeanors of fourth-degree assault and illegally firing a gun after shots were fired early Sunday near Ninth and Walnut streets.

According to a probable cause statement, Columbia police officers were working a separate incident near Ninth and Walnut around 1:13 a.m. Sunday when they heard three to four gunshots coming from west of the intersection. The statement says the shots were heard in proximity to several officers.

Officer Saige Wells wrote that he ran toward the area where the shots were heard, near 807 E. Walnut St., about half a city block from where officers had been working.

Wells said he saw about eight people running away from the area. As he ran toward the scene, Wells said he saw Williams-Patrick setting down a firearm on the sidewalk in front of the bar 50 Yard Line.

Williams-Patrick was arrested around 1:17 a.m. and placed in a police vehicle. Wells wrote that other officers at the scene found four spent shell casings and a live round of .40-caliber Smith & Wesson ammunition.

Wells alleges Williams-Patrick was armed with a handgun and fired four rounds near about 30 people on a public sidewalk near an open business.

Wells recommended that Williams-Patrick be denied bond because he has previously been arrested for several violent felonies, many of which involved firearms.

The statement says Williams-Patrick has previously been arrested for second-degree murder, armed criminal action twice and unlawful use of a weapon three times.

In 2022, Boone County prosecutors accused Williams-Patrick, who was 16 at the time, and three other teenagers of taking part in a shooting that killed Doxley on McKee Street.

Prosecutors initially charged Williams-Patrick as an adult with felony counts of second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with Doxley's death.

Those charges were dropped last year.

ABC 17 News has reached out to the Boone County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for more information about the case.