Three men charged in last month’s shooting where shots hit a Jefferson City school bus containing children have been indicted by the Cole County Grand Jury.
The indictments indicate the grand jurors found there was enough evidence to send the cases onto the circuit courts for possible trial.
Craig Hawkins, 17, of Jefferson City, fled the area after the incident April 6 and was found in Springfield. He is charged with first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action.
Royce Kemp, 20, of Jefferson City, is charged with first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action.
Jermaine Gray, 23, who police said was from Fulton, but court documents list his hometown as Springfield, 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.
Court documents show the shooting occurred 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.
A school bus carrying 21 students from East Elementary School was traveling along East Dunklin Street, near its 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 bullets hit the bus.
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 said Gray was driving, and he was a passenger. 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 1-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 $1,130 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.
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Also indicted by the grand jury was a Jefferson City man charged in connection with a drug trafficking case in Cole County.
Tyler Brondel, 26, of Jefferson City, is charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of a synthetic cannabinoid and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia.
Jefferson City police reports said officers were called to the Best Western hotel on Christy Drive in February for a complaint of drug activity in one of the rooms.
When officers arrived, they found a bong and glass smoking pipe.
They later found 135 grams of methamphetamine and a digital scale.
Also found was nearly $2,200 in cash.
Brondel was in the room and a search of his jacket found two bags of marijuana weighing 28 grams. He admitted to selling narcotics.