African American male James D. Hickem, 23, was the victim of a fatal shooting in Columbia, Missouri, on the night of Wednesday, September 25, 2019. The incident occurred in the central part of the city, specifically in the 2300 block of McBaine Avenue, a residential area near the intersection with Texas Avenue. Officers from the Columbia Police Department responded to reports of gunfire around 8:40 p.m.
Upon arrival at the scene, first responders discovered Hickem suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Emergency medical personnel transported Hickem to a local hospital for urgent treatment, but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival. His death marked the sixth homicide in Columbia within that single month, a period characterized by a spike in violent crime in the city. The sequence of shootings had prompted significant community concern and increased police scrutiny regarding gun violence in the area.
While police were actively investigating Hickem's death, reports from the time indicated that it was treated as a separate incident from other high-profile murders occurring in the same timeframe. Specifically, arrests were made in connection with the separate fatal shootings of 18-year-old Nadria Wright and 26-year-old E'quan Spain, which had occurred earlier in September. Authorities charged Javion Wallace-Lawhorn and Aaron Harris respectively for those crimes. However, initial public reports following Hickem's death did not immediately name a suspect in custody for his specific case, describing the investigation as active and ongoing as detectives sought information from the public.
