On May 7, 2023, 26-year-old Melvin Hooker III was shot and killed outside the Plush Lounge on Business Loop 70 in Columbia, Missouri. Witnesses said the scene sounded like a war zone as a dispute outside the venue escalated into a large exchange of gunfire; Hooker was struck and pronounced dead at the scene. Several other people were wounded during the shooting.

Investigators concluded that gunfire was exchanged between multiple parties and identified several suspects. Columbia resident 35-year-old Kimo Spivey was wounded in the incident, arrested and charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm. Prosecutors also charged 41-year-old Justin Lamarr Simpson with second-degree murder and armed criminal action and sought him as a fugitive.

The case against Spivey went to a jury in Boone County in June 2024; the jury acquitted him of murder but convicted him of unlawful possession of a firearm because he was a convicted felon, and he received a ten-year sentence. Simpson remained a wanted fugitive into early 2025 and his legal status was unresolved as of those reports.

If anyone has information about the May 7, 2023 shooting or Simpson’s whereabouts, please share what is known.