School bus shooting nets 10-year prison sentence

In a plea bargain deal, a Jefferson City man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for pleading guilty to charges in a school bus shooting and the sale of drugs, both of which occurred in May.

Royce Kemp, 21, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree assault in the shooting case. He had been charged with first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action.

Court documents show the shooting occurred in the 500 block of East Elm Street.

Investigators found eight spent shell casings in the street.

A school bus carrying 21 students from East Elementary School was traveling along East Dunklin Street, near its intersection with Marshall Street, at the time of the shooting. The bus was hit four times by bullets, one of which broke a window.

The driver of the bus said she heard gunshots and then heard bullets hit the bus.

Witnesses told authorities the shots were fired from a vehicle traveling through the area. Investigators were able to get video from surveillance cameras in the area and saw a vehicle stop in the 500 block of East Elm and shots being fired from it.

The vehicle was located under a tarp in the 200 block of Dawson Street. An examination of the vehicle found a bullet hole on the rear driver's-side window. There were also two spent .40-caliber shell casings found on the hood of the car.

Kemp was taken into custody after officers stopped the vehicle he was riding in in the 1200 block of East McCarty Street for a narcotics violation. Kemp was selling narcotics at the time and detectives saw Kemp place a laundry basket in the trunk of the vehicle.

During a search of the vehicle, authorities found a small bag of marijuana, weighing just more than 1 gram in the glove compartment. Behind the glove compartment, officers found a bag containing nearly 25 grams of marijuana along with 9 grams of marijuana individually packaged in 1-gram bags.

A 9 mm gun was found next to the marijuana, and Gray told authorities they would find another 9 mm gun in the laundry basket in the trunk. Next to that gun were two bags totaling nearly 58 grams of marijuana. An electronic scale and several rounds of ammunition were also found. Gray had more than $1,130 in cash in his pockets when he was arrested.

When questioned by authorities, Kemp said someone started shooting at them, but he was unaware of anyone returning fire.