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COLUMBIA – A man is recovering after a shooting in Columbia Saturday night, according to the Columbia Police Department. Officers responded to calls of shots fired at the Lakewood Apartments off Old US Highway 63 around 10:30 p.m.
In an email to KOMU 8, police said officers found an adult with a gunshot wound. Police treated him until EMTs arrived and took him to a local hospital.
A neighbor said he saw the shooting from the ground floor of his mother’s apartment.
“At first I thought there was some Halloween prank going on,” Jeffrey Ford said. “But the screams were so painful, and with the gunshots at that time, I knew it was real and immediately called 911.”
Ford said he saw a man shoot at a group of women near a parking lot dumpster and then run away. Several cars then sped out of the parking lot.
“It was preceded by a loud cry from the women, many of them pleading, begging,” Ford said.
Another neighbor said he saw a group of people arguing in the parking lot earlier.
“I heard a lot of loud noises and looked out the window and saw some people fighting very loudly,” said Samantha Allen. “Normally, I’d tell them they should probably shut up ’cause someone’s going to call the police, but there were a lot of people there. I was a little hesitant.”
Allen said the shooting happened close to home.
“[It] Scared me to death, ’cause it was right there… so I ran to my room,” Allen said, adding that she ran quickly and forgot to grab her phone.
A group of neighbors outside also ran into Allen’s bedroom, where they huddled together until the police arrived.
Ford says this type of violence is not uncommon in the area
“This is normally a very quiet, relaxing little apartment complex, and to see it move into the center of town with this kind of violence is very disturbing,” Ford said.
He added that he was moving to Florida because the recent gun violence in Columbia was so bad.
“Colombia has been plagued by gun violence lately. Nowhere is safe,” Ford said.
Police said no suspect information is being released at this time.
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