One arrested in connection with JC homicide

By Gerry Tritz

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A Jefferson City man wanted as a person of interest in an early Sunday morning shooting death of a Columbia man has turned himself in to police, who are still seeking another local man.

Brandon Chase turned himself in at the Jefferson City Police Department shortly after police announced they were seeking he and Sandalio M. Ingram, 29, Jefferson City, as persons of interest in the killing of 34-year-old Columbia resident Keith Mosely. Police say Chase has four outstanding warrants in Jefferson City and Cole County.

Police said one of the suspects reportedly wore a ski mask during the incident.

Mosely was shot about 12:17 a.m. at 1029-B Buena Vista St. He was taken to St. Mary's Health Center, then flown by LifeFlight helicopter to a Columbia hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Charles Decarr lives with his 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son in 1029-A Buena Vista, beside the apartment where the shooting took place. He said Mosely and one or two others were visiting the woman, who lives in 1029-A with her children.

"I heard the arguing," he said. He said the woman who lives in the apartment with her two young children told others who were there to "Go outside. Take your argument outside. Don't do it in here."

Then he heard four shots, each in about three-second intervals. He called 911, then looked outside and saw the door to the apartment open.

"I could see them sitting on the couch and blood everywhere," he said, adding that he and a friend who was visiting him tried to help others save Mosely's life.

"He goes by the street name of "Lazy.'" Decarr said. "I've seen the man. He's asked me for a cigarette. He's a decent, nice guy. He was just a friend of theirs. He was just visiting."

The Section 8 public housing complex is maintained by the Jefferson City Housing Authority. The area, just a couple blocks away from Helias Catholic High School, was quiet on Sunday afternoon, with no visible indication that a killing had occurred that morning. The apartment was amid a half dozen apartment complexes forming a semicircle with a small playground in the middle. The area is set down from the Buena Vista Street, with steps leading up to parking spaces and the street.

Decarr has lived in the public housing complex since last September, and said he's felt safe there until this incident. Now, he said, he wants to get a concealed carry permit and get a handgun to defend himself and his children.

Anyone with information on the homicide is asked to call the police department at 634-6400 or anonymously through CrimeStoppers at 659-8477.

The killing was Jefferson City's first homicide of 2012.