Police release suspect description in Saturday shooting at Arena

A suspect description emerged Monday in connection with a Saturday night shooting at Cape Girardeau's Arena Building that sent two people to the hospital.

The shooting meant an early ending for a rap concert that brought about 1,000 people to the venue. Reports of shots fired inside the building began coming in about 10:20 p.m. Saturday. One person was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his chest, while another person went to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. Both people are believed to have been shot inside the building, though shots were heard two more times outside the building in the hours following, police said Monday.

Police spokesman Darin Hickey said in a news release sent Monday afternoon that a suspect in the shooting is thought to be a black male, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, about 150 pounds and with short dreadlocks. Police believe the man who committed the shooting may have acted in retaliation for being removed from the concert by security. A security guard at the scene Saturday night told the Southeast Missourian that before the shooting took place, the man "got physical with security" and was escorted out of the building.

The person shot in the chest was still in the hospital recovering Monday, but reported by police to be in good condition. The person who was shot in the leg had been treated and released by Monday, police said.

Police were already on scene when the shooting happened, for "crowd control purposes," Hickey said Monday.

"We knew there was a large crowd, and every time there is one, there is a chance of something happening," Hickey said.

Saturday night was not the first time gun violence has occurred at a Rich Homie Quan concert. Rich Homie Quan is a touring rapper from Atlanta. Separate shootings in November and December 2013 killed two people at the same Columbus, Ohio, bar where he performed, according to media reports at the time. One of the shootings was during a show, while the other happened several hours after the artist left the stage. Rich Homie Quan denied he or anyone he was affiliated with were involved in the incidents, and said he would reach out to the affected families.

The Arena Building is owned and managed by the city of Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department.

Parks and Recreation director Julia Thompson said Saturday night's events came as a surprise to the city, which has had no problems at prior events in which the facility was rented to Dem Boyz Southland Mc, the concert's organizers. A phone number for the organizers could not be located Monday by the Southeast Missourian.

The event met all criteria set out by the city in the rental application, Thompson said, including providing insurance and security staff, and was approved by the city. Thompson said she believed about 25 people were working security at the event when the shooting happened.

Thompson said the city is attempting to communicate with the event organizers about the incident, including how security was handled. She said from the details she is aware of so far, she believed the organizers did pat-downs of concertgoers to check for prohibited items and weapons. She said bags were not allowed to be brought inside the facility. She also said she believed the person who committed the shooting may have left for a period of time after he was ejected by security and then returned, at which time he may have forced his way into the building.

"Hindsight is always 20/20. You always think about whether there was anything else we could have done," she said. "[Organizers] met all of our criteria for the event, and unfortunately we can't always control the actions of those who intend to do people harm. ... I'm just grateful that there weren't any more serious injuries, or worse."

The Arena Building does not have any surveillance cameras, but Thompson said the city is looking at the possibility of installing cameras in multiple facilities, although doing so wouldn't be directly related to the past weekend's incidents.

A black passenger car that crashed Saturday night at the corner of Pacific and Themis streets after the shooting is also part of the investigation, according to the release. Police believe the suspect may have been in the vehicle, which crashed during a stop attempt by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Passengers in the car fled from the scene when it crashed. Hickey said law enforcement was pursuing the car because it left the area near the Arena Building at a high rate of speed.

Additional shots heard outside the Arena Building as the crowd was dispersing Saturday night are not thought to have injured anyone, Hickey said, but police are still investigating. They are also continuing to investigate a report by a woman of damage to a car by gunshots.

eragan@semissourian.com

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410 Kiwanis Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO