Columbia police release video statement on shooting after calls for transparency
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Police Department has released a video about the November 2021 shooting that killed a man downtown after pressure from community groups to reopen the investigation.
Police on Tuesday posted online a short release about the Nov. 14, 2021, shooting of Quillan Jacobs on Fifth Street along with a 7-minute video. The video includes body camera footage and evidence photos.
No officers were charged in Jacobs' death. Five bystanders were also injured by gunfire.
In the video, CPD Assistant Chief Matt Stephens walks through the event and the police investigation, while showing select video footage.
According to CPD, officers in the area near Vibez nightclub on North Fifth Street heard shouting coming from the entrance of the club followed by gunshots.
Officers claimed they witnessed two people shooting at each other.
"They observed two male subjects engaged in gunfire in a crowd of people," Stephens said in the video. "Officers saw Mr. Jacobs running south on North Fifth Street while firing his weapon north into the crowd and saw victims on the ground."
Stephens said Jacobs turned into an alley as officers responded to the shooting.
In the YouTube video posted by CPD, police claim Jacobs pointed a gun at officers in one of the clips shown while Jacobs was lying on the ground after he fell. Footage of Jacobs being shot by police was not shown.
The Highway Patrol Investigated the officers' actions, and a special prosecutor decided not to charge them.
Police also released the incident report.
The groups Hold Como Accountable and Race Matters, Friends have asked for the investigation into what happened that night to be reopened, citing inconsistencies.
"This represents the minimum for transparency and we don't understand why something like this couldn't have been released sooner. We appreciate the sympathetic tone of the release, but we still feel it dances around a few major questions," Anthony Willroth, of Hold CoMo Accountable, said. "It's not immediately evident from CPD's video that footage of the second officer to shoot Quillan is included. Finally, as long as SB26 is the law of the land and internal affairs records are considered sealed, we still have no way of knowing officers are being held to any level of accountability."
