Accidental gunshot leads to four drug arrests

COLUMBIA - An accidental gunshot Friday night at Campus View Apartments led to four arrests after officers found drug paraphernalia and about 200 tablets of Ecstasy inside an apartment, according to a news release from the Columbia Police Department.

Police responded to a report from a neighbor that a shot had been fired and a robbery had possibly taken place in Apartment 149 at 5:15 p.m., Sgt. Will Green said.

A subsequent investigation revealed there had been no robbery, but that someone in the apartment had accidentally fired a handgun, according to the release.

The bullet went through a wall connecting two rooms and pierced a water pipe, causing a substantial leak, but no one was injured, Green said.

Three were charged with use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Shon M. Walker, 19, Alex T. Williams, 18, and Alexander L. Elliot, 20, were released from the Police Department after court dates were set.

The fourth resident, Antonio J. Rainey, 18, was charged with distribution, delivery or manufacture of a controlled substance. His bond was set at $10,500, and he was released at 7:41 a.m. Saturday after it was paid.

It was unclear whether the men who were arrested lived in the apartment in which the gun had been fired.