The Florida man charged with this weekend’s deadly triple shooting in downtown Columbia makes his initial court appearance in Boone County Circuit Court.
Boone County prosecutors have charged 23-year-old Misael Covarrubias with seven felonies, including three counts of first degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action. Covarrubias appeared for his initial arraignment Monday before Judge Kayla Inez Jackson-Williams via video from the Boone County jail, where he is held without bond.
Saturday’s early-morning shooting near Ninth and Broadway killed Stephens College nursing student Aiyanna Williams, who has been declared legally brain dead. Two others were wounded. Williams is a Columbia Battle high school graduate.
CPD investigators say Covarrubias was involved in a verbal altercation near Ninth and Broadway and that he fired several shots toward people he was arguing with.
The Columbia Police Department’s three-page probable cause statement alleges that Covarrubias fired his pistol 11 times in what court documents describe as “the busy, crowded downtown area.” Court documents say the suspect had an odor of alcohol while speaking to CPD. Covarrubias is quoted as telling Columbia Police that he drank three “Jack and coke drinks while at bars downtown.”