SEMO student shot at Cape store

A Southeast Missouri State University student seeking a late-night snack was shot early Thursday after leaving a North Sprigg Street convenience store.

William T. Harvey, a sophomore from St. Louis, was released from Saint Francis Medical Center Thursday afternoon after being treated for a bullet wound from a 9 mm Ruger pistol.

Prosecutors charged David L. McElrath, 20, of Mounds, Ill., with three felonies -- first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

The incident began with words between McElrath, his friends and a student in the House Party, a bar in a strip mall just north of the Rhodes 101 at 1126 N. Sprigg St., according to accounts from police and an interview with Harvey.

Harvey said the student, a friend he did not identify, returned to the dormitory rooms in the Towers Complex on campus and asked Harvey to accompany him to Rhodes.

"I didn't want him to go by himself," Harvey said.

After making their purchases, Harvey said he and his friend were leaving the store when a large number of people came into the parking lot and restarted the fight.

"He said something as he pulled the trigger: 'I've got something for you,'" Harvey said.

Harvey said he and his friend started to run when they saw the gun. "I heard the click, clack, heard the two rounds and then I felt the bullet hit me," he said.

The bullet struck him in the lower right side of his abdomen above his hip, he said.

"I am blessed," Harvey said. "There are no major injuries. I am already up and walking with crutches."

A Cape Girardeau police officer, Jeremy Wiedner, was stationed in the area when a call came in about a fight in the store's parking lot, police spokesman Jason Selzer said. "He turned onto Olive Street from Sprigg and heard the shots," Selzer said.

Wiedner stopped McElrath and two other men running through the parking lot of the Dairy Queen on North Sprigg Street. Harvey identified McElrath as the man who shot him and an officer who saw McElrath throw something behind the convenience store found the gun, Selzer said.

"We don't know what they were fighting about just yet," Selzer said.

Bond for McElrath was set at $100,000 cash.

The shooting was the fifth in Cape Girardeau this year that resulted in an injury. Other shootings included the Jan. 25 killing behind the former Du'Shells Furniture on Willam Street that was part of a botched robbery of a drug dealer.

There have been numerous other incidents of gunfire in the city this year, including four instances over a three-day period in October that was part of a dispute between rival groups that resulted in no injuries.

The injuries from gunfire this year equal the total from 2004 and 2005 combined, according to Cape Girardeau police records. In all, police recorded seven incidents involving gunfire in 2004 and 15 in 2005, police records show. The numbers, however, are not unusually high for Cape Girardeau, police chief Carl Kinnison said.

After Harvey was taken to Saint Francis Medical Center, a group of fellow students from his fraternity and an associated sorority followed to provide support but were denied entrance. Hospital personnel "were very rude and obnoxious," said April Lee, one of the sorority members.

"It is not like we were trying to cause trouble, but the people outside were very emotional," Lee said. "We didn't pose any kind of threat."

Several of the students returned to campus, leaving about six people who were again denied entrance to the hospital, Lee said.

Saint Francis spokesman Travis Akin said the hospital has a policy to deny entrance to anyone except family members in the period immediately after a patient arrives who is the victim of violence. "The whole idea is to protect the patients and also to avoid creating a hectic situation," he said.

Akin said he didn't have enough details and declined to comment on the specifics of what happened after Harvey was brought to the hospital. "It has nothing to do with any sort of callousness or disregard for people's feelings," he said. "But we do take the safety of our staff and patients seriously."

Prior to the Thursday morning shooting, McElrath was facing misdemeanor charges for property damage with a Nov. 22 trial date. McElrath was apprehended with two other men by Southeast Missouri State University Department of Public Safety officers in May breaking into cars in the 600 block of Lafayette Place, Selzer said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126