Police identify victim in deadly Springfield shooting on Thursday

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Police identified the victim of a deadly shooting in Springfield late Thursday night.

On Jan. 15, at 11:51 p.m., Springfield police officers responded to the report of a shooting near the intersection of Kimbrough Avenue and Elm Street. Officers found Brandon Watt, 22, of Springfield, shot. Watt later died at a Springfield hospital.

Police arrested Dawson Smith, 20, of Springfield, for questioning. The police named him a suspect. He faces no formal charges. He has been booked in the Greene County Jail.

Police said this is Springfield’s second homicide investigation in 2026.

Watt had only been employed at Donco 3 Construction for about nine months, but the owners say his personality and work ethic were contagious.

“Full of joy, big smiles, contagious, hard worker, encourager. Just a great human, just really a model employee, model human being,” said Aaron York, Owner of Donco 3 Construction.

As the Donco 3 family deals with the loss of one of its own, it takes pride in knowing that Watt took pride in being a father.

“Less (than a year old), (Watt) loved the baby; he brought the baby anywhere he could,“ said Rachel York, who also owns the business. ”Great dad," Aaron added.

And Donco 3 is making sure Watt’s family is taken care of during this time, as the company has offered to cover the cost of the funeral.

“I am old enough to be Brandon’s dad. So, we fathered him and mentored him. It’s just the right thing to do, and the right thing to honor Brandon and his life; he deserves it,” said the Yorks.

KY3 spoke with the director of university safety at Missouri State University, and he says that because of how quickly Springfield police were able to secure the scene, there was no need for the university to issue a campus-wide alert regarding the shooting.

However, Missouri State University will be required to report this incident under the Clery Act, and it will be recorded in the university’s crime statistics as a homicide due to its proximity to campus.

“Adjacent to campus in the realm of that is not our property, not our jurisdiction, we don’t have any influence over that area. But it is a reportable crime under the Clery Act, because it falls in our Clery geography just because it’s immediately adjacent to the university,” said Rowley.

Officials at MSU said this is the first time it has had to report a homicide in its crime statistics in 18 years.

To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com. Please include the article info in the subject line of the email.