Published on Nov. 14, 2021

Dear Campus Community,

The safety of our campus and surrounding community is of the highest importance to us all. Many of you may be aware that an off-campus shooting occurred early this morning. The city of Columbia held a press conference today to discuss the shooting and the safety of downtown. A recording is available here.

University officials and other community partners have been meeting with local law enforcement agencies regularly, including the Columbia Police Department, to discuss solutions after a series of gun-related incidents in the downtown area. As we announced jointly on Friday with the city, we are working together to deter criminal behavior. Some of our proposed actions include:

• Developing a new protocol for MU Alerts when an incident occurs downtown. In certain situations, we will alert our community that a particular area should be avoided. (This new protocol was utilized during this incident though police did not view it as a threat to campus.)
• Exploring the use of temporary lighting.
• Exploring the placement of additional permanent cameras in more of the downtown area.

This morning Columbia officials urged the community to work together to find a variety of solutions to make our community safer. The university and the MU Police Department will do all in our power to support these efforts.

Thank you for all you do to help us keep our campus safe.

Brian Weimer, Chief

MU Police Department