Leeway Drive shooting suspect charged

EDITOR’S NOTE: Because of a source error it was reported that the suspect was in custody. However, he was not in custody late Thursday afternoon.

A Columbia man has been charged with shooting another man four times at a north Columbia apartment building.

Prosecutors charged Derrick Smith, 30, on Thursday with first-degree assault and armed criminal action for the shooting, which left a man with life-threatening injuries. The Columbia Police Department said in a news release Thursday afternoon that Smith was in custody, but later corrected that to say he was not in custody.

Columbia police were called at 5:48 p.m. Wednesday to the 2900 block of Leeway Drive in reference to shots heard, a Columbia police officer wrote in a probable cause statement.

Police found when they got to the scene that a man had been admitted to University Hospital with four gunshot wounds. Two witnesses said they saw a man named “Memphis,” later identified as Smith, shoot the victim outside an apartment at 2935 Leeway Drive, according to the statement.

A separate witness said Smith admitted to the shooting after he got into her car outside the apartment building.

ABC 17 News using police dispatch records found three calls to the Leeway Drive area for shots heard in the past year.

Dispatch reports also showed Columbia police have responded to the area more than a 100 times within the last year.

Boone County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Roger W. Johnson said Smith is a danger to the community. A warrant was issued Wednesday for Smith’s arrest without bond.

Police are asking anyone with information to call the department at 573-874-7652 or CrimeStoppers at 573-875-3477 to remain anonymous.