Three people have been charged in connection with the shooting of an individual Wednesday afternoon, as well as hitting a bus carrying Jefferson City Public School students.
The suspects were identified as:
• Royce Kemp, 20, of Jefferson City, who is charged with first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action.
• Jermaine Gray, 23, whom police said was from Fulton, but court documents list his home town as Springfield. He is charged with first-degree assault, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, possession of a controlled substance and two counts of armed criminal action.
• Craig Hawkins Jr., 17, of Jefferson City, who is charged with first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action.
Kemp and Gray were taken into custody Thursday night.
As of Friday evening, Hawkins was still being sought.
Jefferson City Police Department probable cause statements show the shooting occurred at 3:51 p.m. Wednesday in the 500 block of East Elm Street.
Investigators found eight spent shell casings in the street.
Later, it was learned a male subject was taken to Capital Region Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening gunshot wounds to his face and left thumb. As of Friday, authorities said the man was in stable condition at University Hospital in Columbia.
A school bus carrying 21 students from East Elementary School was traveling along East Dunklin, near the intersection with Marshall Street, at the time of the shooting. The bus was hit four times by bullets, one of which broke a window.
The driver of the bus said she heard gunshots and then heard gunshots hit the bus a short time later.
Witnesses told authorities the shots were fired from a vehicle traveling through the area. Investigators were able to get video from surveillance cameras in the area and saw a vehicle stop in the 500 block of East Elm and shots being fired from it.
The vehicle was located under a tarp in the 200 block of Dawson Street. An examination of the vehicle found a bullet hole on the rear driver's side window. There were also two spent .40-caliber shell casings found on the hood of the car.
After Gray and Kemp were located and taken into custody, Kemp, who was a passenger in the vehicle, admitted Gray was driving. A victim also identified Gray as the driver.
Gray and Kemp were taken into custody after officers stopped their vehicle in the 1200 block of East McCarty Street for a narcotics violation. Kemp was believed to be selling narcotics. Detectives saw Kemp and Gray place a laundry basket in the trunk of the vehicle. During a search of the vehicle, authorities found a small bag of marijuana, weighing just more than 1 gram, in the glove compartment. Behind the glove compartment, officers found a bag containing nearly 25 grams of marijuana along with nine grams of marijuana individually packaged in one gram bags. A 9mm gun was found next to the marijuana, and Gray told authorities they would find another 9mm gun in the laundry basket in the trunk. Next to that gun were two bags totaling nearly 58 grams of marijuana. An electronic scale and several rounds of ammunition were also found. Gray had more than $1,138 in cash in his pockets when he was arrested.
When questioned by authorities, Kemp said someone started shooting at them, but he was unaware of anyone returning fire.
Hawkins was also identified as being in the vehicle at the time of the shooting by one of the victims in this case.
Meanwhile, the school bus driver was being hailed as a hero.
"If I didn't get back on the bus, how could my babies get back on?" officials said the bus driver said Thursday.
"I got the chance to meet her, and what an amazing woman," said Jefferson City Public School District spokesman Amy Berendzen. "She really did save the lives of those kids."
First Student Bus Company, which operates the bus service for the school district, is not fully identifying the driver or letting her talk publicly until closure of the case is made in the interest of her safety.
Frank Underwood, First Student location manager, could not praise the driver enough for what she did.
"She's awesome and a rock star," he said. "I was dispatching that afternoon, and she never cracked. She was very cool and assured when it happened. She said she was sure it was gunfire and drove on. She took the kids to a safe place on the Family Dollar lot. She did the job as we train for it."
Underwood said the driver has been driving a bus for two years, and although school bus drivers train for events like these, they never expect them to actually happen.
"We're talking Mid-Missouri and just don't think it will happen, but we have to be ready - weather disaster, strangers getting on the bus, whatever it might be. I just thanked her so much for taking the training seriously and for her actions.
"She is a hero," Underwood added. "I broke down and cried when I talked to her. I'm proud of her and all our people. I think they would do the same thing if a similar situation arose on their buses. You can't put a dollar amount on the results of the training we saw on Wednesday."
Public schools Superintendent Larry Linthacum echoed Underwood's praise for the driver and said it was imperative to get the kids back on the bus as soon as possible.
"That's why I rode the route myself Thursday, so that we show this was a random act and not aimed at the schools, and it is safe for kids to ride," he said.
During a Friday press conference, JCPD spokesman Capt. Doug Shoemaker said police had an increased presence around East School as a precaution. Even though arrests were made, he said, this is still an active investigation and more arrests could come.
"Although we saw the drug activity of some of the suspects, we're still not sure the exact cause for the shooting," he said.
Authorities asked anyone who may know the whereabouts of Hawkins to call the police department at 573-634-6400 or call CrimeStoppers, which still has a $500 reward available for information on this case, at 573-659-TIPS.