Police puzzled by shuttle shooting
Investigators believe the bus was shot during its morning route.
Published Aug. 31, 2010
Four days after the Columbia Police Department received a call from a campus shuttle driver who believed his bus had been shot sometime during his morning route Thursday, no cause for the shooting has been determined.
CPD spokeswoman Jill Wieneke said the bus driver believes the shooting happened just before 10 a.m. while making stops on his route around the intersection of Kentucky Boulevard and South Providence Road. Wieneke said the driver did not notice the possible bullet holes until he walked around the backside of the bus shortly before noon.
Wieneke said the police department towed the bus over to the city vehicle hold, got the bus on a lift and the Forensic Evidence Team was able to look underneath and trace the path of the bullets. Despite the forensic team's investigation, the two small caliber bullets could not be retrieved.
"At this point, we don't feel like it could have been anything else," Wieneke said. "Cars can drive over small caliber shell casings and pick them up in their tires, which makes locating and collecting evidence even harder if there is a time delay in the incident being reported."
Since the beginning of the summer, CPD has seen a marked increase in the number of officers dispatched to shots fired calls. Wieneke said this case is different from others because of the apparent lack of motive.
"In other cases, it was pretty clear what was going on," she said. "Usually, it's someone trying to send a message, but this bus doesn't seem like a likely target. Why shoot at the backside of a city bus in the middle of the day?"
CPD canvassed dorms and fraternity and sorority houses in the area but found no witnesses. No students have come forward claiming to have been on the bus or in the area at the time.
Senior Nicole Krause said she takes the campus shuttle bus a few times per week, and Thursday's incident seemed very strange.
"Honestly, I'm just confused," Krause said. "I don't really understand how it didn't get seen or heard at all. It really hasn't affected my decision to ride the bus."
Wieneke said students should not be troubled by this incident, but should remain aware of their surroundings.
"Since we can't say for sure this happened on campus, we don't want MU students to be unnecessarily alarmed," Wieneke said. "But if you ever hear or see anything that makes you uncomfortable, don't hesitate to report it. Sometimes it's the smaller things that lead to bigger things."