COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Columbia police say a clerical error caused the Missouri Highway Patrol to classify an unsolved fatal shooting as a justifiable homicide.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that a monthly statistical report compiled by the patrol lists a 21-year-old white male as the shooter in the May 19 death of 25-year-old Brandon Coleman.

Coleman's family and some community leaders have criticized Columbia police for not making an arrest in a case police say remains under investigation.

Police Sgt. Joe Bernhard says an unnamed records clerk "jumped the gun" in wrongly classifying Coleman's shooting for the state report.

A man at the crime scene has said he was being held at gunpoint during an argument. The man said his son emerged from a nearby home with a shotgun, firing it to defend his father.

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