2 charged in connection to Cape Girardeau graduation shooting

Prosecutors charged Kris E. Owens, 20, of Cape Girardeau with first-degree felony assault, a Class A felony; armed criminal action; and unlawful use of a weapon stemming from a shooting and fight that injured two and disrupted Cape Central High School graduation ceremonies Sunday, May 19, at the Show Me Center.

Christopher J. Owens

Prosecutors also charged Christopher J. Owens, 41, with a Class A misdemeanor of loitering within 500 feet of school property as a registered sex offender. He is being held on a $25,000 cash-only bond issued by Associate Judge Julie Koester.

Kris Owens, accused of firing the shot, is being held on a no-bond warrant.

The Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office declined to file charges on a person of interest being held, pending further investigation into his possible involvement, according to a news release issued by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Probable-cause statements do not say whether a gun was retrieved.

According to the release, both Kris Owens and Christopher Owens were “taken into custody without incident on May 20.”

Officers responded to the Show Me Center following a shots-fired call Sunday. Two school resource officers, whose names were redacted in the statements, ran to the area where gunshots were heard and found two subjects fighting in a stairwell near the main entrance, according to probable-cause statements filed against both suspects.

Officers located a second victim on the north side of the building on the second floor, according to the probable-cause statement, signed by an officer whose name is redacted.

The document states that one victim had a gunshot wound to his abdomen that “appeared to have traveled at a downward angle and exited near his buttocks.” It is unclear what kind of injury the second victim sustained.

Two of the subjects declined to make statements to police. A third person involved said that he and his brother had a family member who was graduating, the document stated. The subject, whose name is redacted, said that he and another person went to get refreshments when an argument ensued.

The subject “then pulled a gun from his waist area. (Redacted) said he and (redacted) began to fight and the gun went off, striking him in the abdomen.”

During the investigation, police learned that Christopher Owens was registered as a Tier 3 sex offender and is prohibited from being at any school function. Court documents say that Christopher Owens was convicted of gross sexual imposition in the Circuit Court of Burleigh County, North Dakota.

A Class A felony is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.