COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a 19-year-old man has died after he was shot on Thanksgiving Day while sitting in a car outside a mall in the central Missouri town of Columbia.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that police announced Thursday that Jeffrey Swope, of Jefferson City, had died of his injuries Monday.

Police say Swope was with a 24-year-old friend on the Columbia Mall parking lot when one of them tried to holster a gun. The gun fired, wounding Swope around 11:30 p.m.

Columbia police spokeswoman Latisha Stroer says no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.

LYON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities and officials with USD 253 Emporia are investigating after two William Allen White Elementary students were approached by a stranger as they walked home from school Thursday afternoon, according to Superintendent Kevin Case.

The report came in around 4pm on Thursday afternoon. The man approached the students near East 9th Avenue and Cottonwood Street at the south edge of the school campus and reportedly yelled at two students to come home with him, according to Emporia Police.

A review of surveillance video in the area showed a person of interest. The video shows this man in the area at the time of the report.

The man appears to be Caucasian, wearing sunglasses, a hooded jacket or coat and light colored jeans or sweatpants.

They students back to the school to report the incident to a staff member. School officials immediately notified Emporia Police, and they came by the school to get a report.

“Both students were unharmed and we are especially proud of their smart and quick reaction,” according to Case.

He urged parents to take time to remind children to be watchful and to not interact with strangers near the playground or along the route to and from schools. “Teachers will emphasize the message at all of our schools as well, and our staff will be vigilant to watch for individuals who have no reason to be around the schools.”

Anyone with information about the identity of this man is asked to call the Emporia Police Department at 620 343-4200 or Lyon County Crime Stoppers at 620 342-2273.

CARL JUNCTION, Mo. (AP) – A southwest Missouri man is charged in the death of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter.

Twenty-two-year-old Jalen Vaden was charged Thursday with second-degree murder and felony child abuse in the death of Jayda Kyle, of Carl Junction.

The Joplin Globe reports a probable cause affidavit said Vaden became angry Nov. 27 when the girl didn’t put on the pajamas he told her to wear. He allegedly threw her on the floor and bed and later found her bleeding and unresponsive on the floor.

The charges allege the girl died from injuries she suffered when her head hit the floor. She died Dec. 1 at a Kansas City hospital.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Vaden had an attorney.

Carl Junction police Chief Delmar Haase says the child’s mother has been cleared of any

BOONE COUNTY— A Missouri man was injured in an accident just before 7a.m. Friday in Boone County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Dodge Charger driven by Aaron J. Meeks, 33, Holts Summit, was northbound on U.S. 63 just north of Zumwalt Road.

The vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed and rear-ended a 2006 International Dump Truck.

Meeks was pronounced dead at the scene. The dump truck driver Jimmy D. Bittle, 32, Hartsburg, was not injured.

Meeks was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – A Kansas man who was released from prison after serving 23 years for two murders he didn’t commit has been offered a full scholarship to a Kansas City community college.

Lamonte McIntyre was offered the scholarship Wednesday by leaders of Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley.

McIntyre was released from prison in October after Wyandotte County prosecutors dropped charges in a 1994 double murder.

The Kansas City Star reports that while McIntyre was in prison he studied for his GED degree and took college courses.

McIntyre is already taking classes at a barber academy and hopes to one day open his own salon. He plans to study business at Penn Valley.

Kansas does not offer any compensation to people who are wrongly convicted in the state.

ARNOLD, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a suburban St. Louis police officer who was shot in the head by a handcuffed burglary suspect is undergoing a second surgery in an attempt to save his life.

Arnold police posted on Facebook Thursday afternoon that 44-year-old Ryan O’Connor was in “very critical condition.”

O’Connor was rushed to St. Anthony’s Medical Center in St. Louis County on Tuesday after being shot by 29-year-old Chad Klahs. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Captain Gary Higginbotham says Klahs apparently fatally shot himself after wounding the officer.

Higginbotham said officers confiscated a gun from Klahs when he was arrested, but he apparently had another one.

Late Wednesday police posted on Facebook that medical staff had told O’Connor’s family he had a potentially long, hard road to recovery.