DISTRICT DAZE: Homeless man allegedly punches, threatens CoMo preschool owners

COLUMBIA, 1/10/25 (Beat Byte) -- The owner of a popular preschool claims a homeless man punched him in the face while brandishing a knife and making death threats in downtown Columbia.

The alleged New Years Eve attack occurred on the corner of Broadway and Tenth Streets, Tiger Tots Child Development Center owner Paul Prevo explained on Facebook. Before the attacker "pulled a makeshift knife from his pocket, he promised he would [kill my wife and I]," Prevo said.

A photo and description ("about 6'2" and 240lbs+/-") Prevo posted of his assailant prompted several people to insist the details matched Daniel "Danny" Wayne Dwyer, about whom court records show an 18-year prison sentence for felony assault in 2006. Dwyer was also tried for a July 2022 hammer attack at Stephens Lake Park. That case reportedly ended in a mistrial, but with few details about why or if Boone County prosecutors would re-file charges.



"A businessman who gives big and small," said a 2017 Columbia Missourian article about Prevo's civic involvement. A former Boone County Planning and Zoning Commissioner, Prevo served on the boards of Boone County Family Resources, Rainbow House, Love, Inc., and on multiple City of Columbia commissions.

“We need to be helping each other because that’s what neighbors do. That’s what a community does,” Prevo told the Missourian.

Police officers, meanwhile, issued the Prevos' reported assailant a citation without arrest. "Yes, that's correct. He is out on the street," Prevo warned -- and others confirmed. 

When he is not "yelling profanities at people downtown," a man fitting the description "camps" in front of the Roger B. Wilson Boone County Government building, multiple witnesses reported. Two weeks ago, the same man attempted to force open a young woman's car door near 9th and Walnut Streets.

"I called the Columbia Police on this guy," explained a witness to the latter incident. "This was my second encounter with him. The first time he was passed out in the doorway of my office entrance."

Photo credit Paul Prevo