UPDATE: Highway Patrol takes over investigation of fatal shooting in Hitt Street Garage

The Columbia Police Department and the MU Police Department said early Thursday that a man matching the physical description and appearance of Mark W. Adair, 51, was shot and killed on the second floor of the parking garage, located at the corner of Hitt and Elm streets. Hunter said the patrol is awaiting fingerprint identification before confirming the identity of the man killed.

Adair was a registered sex offender in Missouri for raping and kidnapping a 9-year-old girl in 1988, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol sex offender registry.

Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman David Owen said Adair was released on parole in 2005 but was incarcerated in 2008 for a parole violation. He was released in November 2013 but was incarcerated in April 2014 for another parole violation. Adair was released on parole on Friday but was declared an absconder and a warrant was issued for his arrest Tuesday.

Jill Schlude, deputy chief of Columbia police, and MU police Capt. Brian Weimer gave a news conference near a west-side entrance of the garage with the following information:

At the Hitt Street Garage, an MU police officer found Adair in the northwest corner of the second floor. The officer approached Adair, and shots were fired after an "altercation between the two where the officer cornered him." A Columbia police officer arrived, and more shots were fired.

The man believed to be Adair was killed, but it was uncertain which officer fired the fatal shot or whether Adair fired a gun he had. The investigation by the Highway Patrol will determine the number of shots fired and who killed Adair.

The MU officer had an injury to the tip of his finger and was taken to University Hospital for treatment. He was released on Thursday, Weimer confirmed.

Both officers are now on paid administrative leave while the Highway Patrol conducts an investigation.

The MU officer was wearing a body camera, and footage will be released as part of the investigation. Schlude did not say whether the Columbia police officer was wearing a body camera.

Schlude said she would not speculate about why Adair was approaching campus or what he was doing in the garage. She said the police received multiple tips that Adair was in the area and that he was last seen at Rose Music Hall, formerly Mojo's, 1013 Park Ave. At the hall, police discovered a stolen vehicle that Adair is believed to have taken earlier in the evening.

Samantha Kethe, night manager of Rose Music Hall on Wednesday, confirmed that around 10 p.m., Columbia police officers looked through the venue for about 30 minutes in search of a suspect, but they didn't find anyone.

The investigation by the Highway Patrol will take several days, Schlude said. "It will be slow," she said. "Please be patient. Do not expect it quickly. It will be thorough, and it will be complete."

Columbia police had earlier issued a warning about a suspect who was armed and dangerous. They named Adair as their primary suspect. The man hid in a woman's car at Moser's Supermarket (formerly Patricia's IGA), 900 N. Keene St., and held her at gunpoint at 5:30 p.m.

"His activities earlier today led us to believe that he was violent," Schlude said. The woman who was attacked in her car earlier sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

The state Division of Probation and Parole had recently issued a warrant for Adair's arrest for absconding his parole, according to a news release about the Moser's incident from Columbia police.

According to Columbia Tribune articles from 1988 and 1989, Adair was charged with assaulting two young girls in August and September of 1988. One charge was dropped, but Adair was convicted of the other, involving the 9-year-old, in 1989. Police said Adair went into the girl’s room at the Crossways Inn, kidnapped her, and took her to his motel room nearby to attempt to rape her, according to Tribune reporting.

While on trial, Adair was already serving a three-year sentence at the Missouri State Penitentiary for a 1985 burglary conviction, according to the Tribune. Adair was sentenced to 30 more years in prison on April 24, 1989 — 20 years for attempting to commit forcible rape and 10 years for kidnapping, first-degree burglary and marijuana possession.

Schlude said she was not sure how long he had been in Boone County.

Witnesses describe chaotic scene

MU student Christopher Fulton was sitting on his couch with a roommate at 10:55 p.m. Wednesday when he heard a quick succession of gunshots. That was followed by more gunshots, and he then heard women scream.

Fulton lives next to the Hitt Street Garage in the Beverly apartment building. He walked outside and asked if it was safe. Police told him no.

More than a dozen police cars swarmed to the scene.

Residents living around the garage flocked to the crime scene and watched from behind yellow crime tape as officers rushed up to the second floor of the garage.

MU student Derek Dallas, who lives in the Lofts at 308 Ninth, said he could see the cops moving in the garage from his fifth-floor apartment.

Wei Du, an MU graduate student who lives at Manor House apartments, said he did not see the shooting, but he had thought he heard three shots fired.

"It was very loud and sounded like gunshots," Du said. "Then, I just walked to my window and saw that a police car came in 20 to 30 seconds."

Siddharth Vodnala, an MU graduate student, said he did not see the shots being fired. "I tried talking to the cops, but they wouldn't tell me anything," Vodnala said.

MU senior Ellen Sherman was at International Tap House, across the street from the garage, with MU junior Jaime Kedrowski at the time of the shooting.

"We did not see the shooting, but we saw a dead guy on the ground," Sherman said.

Kedrowski's car was parked in the garage when the shooting happened. Sherman said she and Kedrowski left the bar to try to get the car out before police put up the yellow tape. But police stopped them and told them to park their car elsewhere in the garage and to leave immediately. Later, police said cars parked in the garage were inaccessible until about 5 a.m.

Riley Johnson, an MU freshman, said he was walking back to his home on Paquin Street when the shooting happened.

"I had been at the (MU) Student Center, and I was walking with my earphones in, so I didn't hear the shots," Johnson said.

Additional reporting by Connor Casey and Alex Jacobi.

Supervising editor is Tracey Goldner.