Visitors coming to the Pulaski County Courthouse usually find only a metal detector and guard at the entrance, but on Monday morning, they saw deputies armed with semi-automatic rifles in the entryway and numerous other deputies carrying other firearms, along with police and detectives from the Waynesville and St. Robert police departments. Inside a third-floor courtroom, additional security personnel included several state troopers, bailiffs and jail security personnel.
All that security was for the preliminary hearing of Robert Ray Brown, 28, of St. Robert, who police say fled to Chicago after a Club Oasis shooting that seriously injured Raymond Haggard, 22, of St. Robert, Staff Sgt. Dorian Daniel, of Fort Leonard Wood’s 14th Military Police Brigade, and Xavier Budd, 21, a non-military resident of Fort Leonard Wood. Brown is also charged with one count of second-degree assault, a Class C felony, accusing him of shooting 1st Lt. Eric Allen, 32, of Fort Leonard Wood’s 3rd Chemical Brigade, and causing injury but not serious injury.
While Brown was rapidly caught, police are still hunting for Brian Haggard, 26, who had a warrant issued for his arrest on a Class A felony charge of first-degree assault accusing him of shooting Demontra Hatfield, 24, on April 30. Police believe the April 30 shooting may have been retaliation for Brown’s shooting of Raymond Haggard eight weeks earlier.
During the preliminary hearing, Daniel hobbled on crutches to the witness stand and described the scene at Club Oasis on March 1. Club Oasis was filled that night with patrons, as is typical for a weekend night, and the shooter turned the scene into chaos.
Daniel said he saw Brown fire at least three shots, and possibly more.
“I saw him shoot Raymond (Haggard) and Xavier (Budd) was running and he shot him in the back of the leg,” Daniel said.
Daniel said he saw the others shot as he was “laying in a pool of my own blood” following a shot to his leg, and that the person who shot him had been blocking the doors of Club Oasis. As a result, patrons were fleeing in all directions trying to escape the shooter through other exits, and Daniel crouched down behind a desk at which customers paid their money to the nightclub.
“All the people in the foyer were running from side to side, and I was holding onto the desk so I wouldn’t get run over,” Daniel said.
Responding to questions from Prosecuting Attorney Deborah Hooper, Daniel said his vision was 20-15 and “almost perfect.”
Hooper asked Daniel whether there was any doubt about who shot him.
“So you’re absolutely certain that the person you saw shoot Raymond Haggard and Xavier Budd is in this courtroom today?” Hooper asked.
Daniel confirmed that information.
Associate Circuit Judge Colin Long decided that was enough information to rule that there’s probable cause that Brown had committed a felony, and bound him over to circuit court for a June 4 arraignment.