Four arrested after large fight, assault with gun at Columbia Eagle Stop

UPDATE 3/20: ABC 17 News spoke with Spencer Ervin’s wife, Janay, about the Eagle Stop fight and she said Ervin fired his gun at a member of the Squad Up gang when they threatened to shoot him during the fight.

“My husband is a tax paying man,” she said. “He goes to work every single day faithfully 5 days a week and he does pay his taxes.”

She said they had stopped at the convenience store to regroup while celebrating someone’s birthday when the Squad Up gang allegedly started approaching members of her group. Janay said she and her husband are not affiliated with a gang.

She said they were trying to get Ervin to a car after he was tased by police during the altercation but then the members of the gang threatened Ervin.

“They was [sic] making threatening comments and threatening gestures to try to run back up on him again,” she said.

She told ABC 17 News that while it was dangerous to fire his gun into a crowd of people, he saw no other option to protect himself from the gang members.

“I would like to see them do some time because they are terrorizing people’s families and kids,” she said. “That’s not fair to our community or people who are working and living a normal life.”

Janay is also in the footage released by the Columbia Police Department and the camera footage. She is in the grey shirt and Ervin is in the red shirt. Janay said she was blocking Ervin, who was getting down on the ground, because she thought police might shoot him even though she said his gun was on the ground.

ABC 17 News reached out to the Columbia Police Department Monday morning for comment and later received the attached press release.

UPDATE, 5:30 p.m.: Four people have been arrested following an early-morning fight that happened at the I-70 Eagle Stop on Providence Road.

At about 1:45 a.m. Sunday, officers and Boone County sheriff’s deputies arrived to find several people fighting in the parking lot.

Officers used stun guns on two people who were fighting, identified as Spencer Allen Ervin, 30 and Monterio Truss, 17.

After removing the probes from the stun gun, Ervin approached another person and shot at them. Officers detained Ervin and then the fight escalated.

Several of the people allegedly attacked the officers and officers sprayed pepper spray to try and disperse the crowd. The person Ervin shot at left the area and officers said they don’t know if that individual had any injuries.

There were no reported injuries to other people or officers in the area.

Ervin was arrested on charges of unlawful use of a weapon. Three other men were also arrested.

Truss was arrested on peace disturbance charges and released on municipal summons.

Shana Deshay McClain, 23, was arrested on charges of trespassing and released on municipal summons.

Deshane Griffith, 26, was arrested on drug charges and peace disturbance.

UPDATE: Providence and Texas Avenue are back open. The scene has been cleared.

According to Columbia police dispatch records, which have a six-hour delay, Columbia police officers responded to a suspicious incident, two special assignments and a traffic stop near the Eagle Stop around 1 a.m. Sunday.

An ambulance and Boone County deputies responded to the same area around 2 a.m.

Dispatch records then showed police responded to an assault near the Eagle Stop around 2:30 a.m., even though police were already at the scene.

ABC 17 News crews were told that a press release would be available at some point Sunday. As of 9:40 a.m. a release was not available.

ORIGINAL: Right now, Providence Road at Texas is closed in Central Columbia.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Department and Columbia Police Department have a large presence at the scene.

Motorists cannot turn north on Providence from the I-70 exit ramp, and deputies are rerouting traffic back onto westbound I-70.

ABC 17 News is working to find out why police are blocking the road. We will continue to update this story and have all the latest in our 6 a.m. newscast.