Our facility and staff has been traumatized because we lost one of our security staff members Treshawn Kitchen that was actually trying to protect us that a perpetrator that was in front of our building last night after we closed," Tyree Byndom said.
Byndom expressed the family environment among staff members of Vibez Nightclub, many of whom were still at the nightclub Sunday afternoon following the shooting.
"We really consider his actions to be heroic," Byndom said.
In a news release, the Columbia Police Department said at 2:35 a.m. they responded to a report of a shooting in the area of 19 N. Fifth Street.
Law enforcement found two victims who had suffered from serious gunshot wounds at Vibez, a nightclub in Columbia.
Both victims were transported to a local trauma center, the release said, where Kitchen was pronounced dead. The other 30-year-old female victim is receiving medical care.
A police officer on the scene Sunday morning said he believed the female victim "will make it."
For friends like Natalie Kimball, the thought that Kitchen went to work and never made it back home was difficult to come to terms with.
"The only reason he did this job is because he cared about his family so much," Kimball said. "It was just an extra hundred,two hundred dollars every weekend it was for his kids. He was probably one of the most important men in my life."
Police arrested 36-year-old Curtis Allen Lewis, of Columbia, in connection to the homicide of Kitchen, of Columbia and the shooting of the 30-year-old female victim.
According to a news release, Lewis was arrested on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action.
The police department said Lewis is being held in Boone County Jail and the investigation is still ongoing.
Even though a man is in custody, Kimball said moving forward was going to be difficult after losing him.
"It's never going to be the same," Kimball said. "We got a great person looking over us."
According to the release, the Violent Crime Task Force will be working to assist local police in resolving this case.
The Columbia Police Department is asking anyone with information about this incident to contact the Columbia Police Department at 573.874.7652 or CrimeStoppers at 573.875.TIPS (8477) to remain anonymous.
