Charges dropped for alleged downtown shooter

Charges have been dropped on the man arrested for the shooting in downtown Columbia earlier in the summer.

Officers originally arrested Eric Cravens, 20, of Columbia, for the June 15 shooting that injured three people at Broadway and 10th Street. Police made the arrest less than two weeks after the incident following a “determined and methodical investigation.”

But defense lawyer, Jennifer Bukowsky, claims she obtained alibi from eight witnesses and evidence from two surveillance cameras at Break Time and Taco Bell, verifying Cravens was nowhere near downtown when shots were fired.

Cravens was originally taken into custody after police stopped him at 3500 Clark Lane. He faced three counts of first-degree assault and one count of armed criminal action.

At the time, Columbia’s police chief said he believed the shooting was gang-related.