Charges filed in student's shooting death

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Prosecutors have charged a 20-year-old man with killing a University of Missouri-Columbia student as a fight broke up early Sunday.

Taron Crawford, of Kansas City, Kan., was charged late Sunday with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Charles Ernest Blondis, 20, of the suburban Chicago city of Flossmoor.

Columbia police said Crawford and Blondis went to a gathering in the northeast part of town after the city's bars closed. During the after-hours party, two other men began fighting about how a female partygoer was treated and Crawford stepped into the fray, said Capt. Mike Martin, an investigative commander.

Crawford, who was in town visiting friends, received several blows from one of the men fighting, Martin said.

When it was announced that police would be called, Martin said, the fight broke up and Crawford pulled a gun from his waistband. Crawford then fired multiple rounds in the direction of Blondis.

Crawford was jailed Monday on $500,000 bond. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.