Northeast News
August 9, 2012

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced this afternoon that charges have been filed in the Aug. 4 shooting of Donald Bierra III in the 500 block of South Quincy.

According to court records, Bierra was standing on the front porch of 513 Quincy when a vehicle drove past the house. According to witness accounts, Dermaine R. Saunders, 25, leaned out of the passenger window of the car and fired several shots into the crowd of people. Initially, witnesses were reluctant to identify Saunders as the shooter in police photo spreads. However, a relative contacted detectives and positively identified Saunders as the shooter.

Detectives tracked Saunders to a hotel in the Grandview area where he was apprehended. A search of Saunders’ room turned up two handguns, one of which was matched to the gun used in the shooting.

Saunders is being held in the Jackson County Jail on a $250,000 bond. He has been charged with murder in the second degree, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action.