Columbia police identify victim in officer-involved shooting
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia police have releaed new information regarding the fatal officer-involved shooting on the 2200 block of Stadium.
Columbia police report James Sears, III, 38, of Columbia, Mo. was being actively investigated for drug distribution and an outstanding warrant for a felony probation violation. Sears was known to have been armed and dangerous.
Officials report available video footage revealed Sears drew a firearm on the officers and posed an immediate threat to officers and citizens in the area.
Officails report two officers shot Sears after Sears failed to comply with verbal commands. In this case, the footage showed enough detail to release these preliminary observations.
Watch the scene replay in the player below.
After Sears was shot, police gave Sears aid until EMS arrived. Sears was taken to a local hopsital where he was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
"There are multiple people impacted when events like this occur and we have to find ways to support each other," said Chief Geoff Jones. "I would like to thank the citizens who patiently waited for investigators, first responders, transit employees, Missouri Department of Transportation and the Missouri State Highway Patrol for assisting us."
Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control continues to investigate the shooting.
Columbia police has its internal affairs investigation currently ongoing as well.
Witnesses at the scene said they saw Sears drive up to pump 5 to get gas, shortly after a PetroMart cashier told ABC 17 that 4 police vehicles arrived at the scene near the suspect. She said she heard 4 gunshots as an officer opened fire near pump 12.
“We had a guy that came to pump some gas, he pulled in to pump some gas next thing you know we had some police officers next thing you know we had some police officers arrive on scene here, they ended up drawing their weapons on the suspect or who they were confronting. Within a matter of seconds bullets were shot he was shot and killed I believe. Unfortunately the day turned pretty quickly after that,", said Justin Renshaw, a witness to the incident.
Renshaw said there was no major property damage but a trashcan near the scene was penetrated with a bullet hole along with the tire on a bystander's vehicle.
"None of the pumps took a direct hit but we did have a trashcan that got hit a vehicle a bystanders vehicle a bullet to the tire as well I’m not sure how many bullets the guy took exactly we did have a little bit of property damage it’s been a little while cleaning the scene, it’s been kind of a wild day,", said Renshaw.
Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control will continue the investigation of this incident.
