CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — A father and son were charged in connection with a graduation shooting in Cape Girardeau.
Kris Owens, 19, and Christopher Owens, 41, were charged in connection with the shooting at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, where the Cape Central High School graduation was being held.
According to the probable cause statement, Kris and Christopher Owens were at the graduation event when they saw someone with whom one of them had a previous dispute. The charging documents said Kris and Christopher Owens and multiple other people started fighting when someone pulled out a gun. The name of the person who pulled out the gun was redacted on the probable cause statement.
During a struggle for that gun, a shot was fired and one of the people was shot in the abdomen. That person was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Christopher Owens was also taken to the hospital with a leg injury. While he was speaking with police officers, officers discovered that he was a registered sex offender and was prohibited from any school-related function.
Kris Owens was charged with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. He is being held without bond.
Christopher Owens was charged with loitering within 500 feet of school property as a registered sex offender. A judge set his bond at $25,000.
According to a Facebook post from the Cape Girardeau Police Department, a third person was taken into custody in connection with the incident, but prosecutors declined to issue charges.
The police department said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call them at 573-339-6621, leave an anonymous tip at 573-339-6313 or text "CAPEPD" to 847411.
On Sunday, Cape Girardeau Mayor Stacy Kinder shared the following statement with KFVS-TV regarding the shooting:
“I am sitting in my empty house, as my extended family takes my son, a 2024 graduate of Cape Central High School, out to dinner to try to salvage a celebration of his graduation and all he has achieved. I’m not able to go to that dinner, because I am, in gut-wrenching honesty, trying to process what happened a few hours ago at the CHS graduation, where gun violence marred a beautiful family and community event. I am one of literally thousands of people here in Cape who have had this day turned on its head in traumatic fashion.
The Show Me Center was packed with excited students, proud families and friends, and school district administrators and teachers who were beaming with the accomplishments of this year’s graduates. As a mom, this was the fourth child my husband and I would see graduate from CHS, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the graduation ceremony more crowded, or with more enthusiasm! The atmosphere was truly special, but that changed just 20 minutes into the ceremony.
As spectators, no one in the arena knew exactly what happened, since the violence happened outside the arena, on the concourse. However, within seconds of hearing a gunshot, families were fleeing the stands, others were huddled over their loved ones, and terrified graduates were leaving the floor and looking for their parents. It was the most chaotic and scary scene I’ve ever experienced, and to know that so many in the community also experienced that makes it even more traumatic.
I’d like to commend the school administration for doing a very admirable job in getting some order restored to the event after those first few moments of complete chaos, and then in ultimately steering everyone to safe passage out of the facility. The Show Me Center crew was also excellent in their guidance of the very large crowd. I’d also like to give a giant thanks to the school resource officers who were present, and who ultimately were needed in an extremely important way. The safety of the entire crowd rests on their shoulders, and on that of all the law enforcement and public safety personnel who were ultimately involved. I’d like to say from a grateful community, thank you to all who rushed into this very bad situation when the rest of us were trying to get out.
I talked with my pastor this afternoon. He reminded me of the need to lament, of there being a time for sadness, for disappointment, for concern. Today is certainly the time for all that, for many of us here in Cape. It is also a time for action, by all who are actively involved in this case, and who will continue to work until this community is safe and public safety is restored. Let’s all continue to support our public safety officials during this incredibly stressful time, and into the future.
There will also be a time soon about discussing next steps we can and should see to address gun violence here. There are a number of ideas being developed, in conjunction with things already on the ground, to address the root causes of this violence. I plan to bring some information to the community within a few weeks of some concepts being created. Smart next steps will follow, and community engagement will be key.
There will be a time for further discussion of the details of what exactly happened today, and why. That time is not now, as our law enforcement officials and members of the judicial system are doing their work. Right now, our Central families and students, school officials, and city and county law enforcement officers and leaders need our prayers and support. Today, we are sad for our students, we lament the loss they and their families have experienced, and we mourn the violence we have seen in our city, along with what it is doing to our community. Many will be needed to engage in some work to curtail this kind of violence, but despite today’s lamentations, I am thankful that hope remains. We can and will see a better community through this.”