Cape man accused of pistol-whipping his wife in early morning domestic disturbance

A Cape Girardeau man was in custody Wednesday after an early-morning domestic disturbance in which he is accused of beating his wife with a gun.

James Calvin Sims, 29, was charged with two counts of second-degree domestic assault and one count of unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the altercation.

Police responded to a report of a shooting just after 3 a.m. Wednesday in the 500 block of Cape Meadows Circle, according to a probable-cause statement filed by officer Josiah Mehl of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

A dispatcher advised police a caller had reported hearing a gunshot and a woman crying, Mehl wrote.

When Mehl arrived at the scene, he heard crying and screaming coming from a stairwell at 516 Cape Meadows Circle, where he found a woman who "was extremely upset, crying and screaming when I made contact with her," Mehl wrote.

The woman told Mehl her husband, Sims, had struck her in the head with a gun after firing it at her friend, Mehl wrote.

The woman said she had been sleeping when her friend arrived shortly before 3 a.m. after walking to her apartment from a casino, Mehl wrote.

The victim told police her husband had answered the door and told the friend, "No, not tonight," after which she left the apartment with her friend, Mehl wrote.

"She said that James (Sims) followed them out and was being rude, so she told Williams to go home," Mehl wrote. "She was about to call a cab when James came out with a gun and fired it at [her friend]."

The woman said Sims ordered her to go inside, where he started choking her, pushed her into a wall and started beating her with the gun, striking her head about five or six times, Mehl wrote.

The victim, who had severe swelling and a laceration on the top of her head, "did say that James had told her he would kill her if she tried to leave him," Mehl wrote.

According to the statement, the victim reported she was holding a child in her arms at the time of the assault, but the child appeared to be unhurt.

The bullet Sims is accused of firing apparently ricocheted off the parking lot and hit the hood of a Toyota Camry that was parked in the lot, causing an estimated $500 in damage, according to Mehl's statement.

Sims told another officer he had shot to the side of his wife's friend, then threw the gun -- described in his arrest warrant as "a Hi-Point .380 handgun, a weapon readily capable of lethal use" -- into a nearby Dumpster, where police later recovered it, Mehl wrote.

At the police station later, the victim's friend told another officer Sims had pointed the gun at him, then shot it toward the ground, Mehl wrote.

The friend was uninjured, the release stated.

Sims' bond is set at $25,000. Should he bond out, he will have to stay away from his wife and will not be allowed to possess knives, firearms or other weapons.

epriddy@semissourian.com

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