ST. LOUIS • One person was killed and eight others injured in unrelated shootings throughout the city over 15 hours Friday.
Police released few details about the seven shootings, which began in the early morning and ended in the late afternoon with a triple shooting in south St. Louis that took the life of one male victim. Eight other victims were hospitalized for their injuries. At least one of them was in critical condition.
The death brought the city’s number of recorded homicides up to 189, surpassing by one the homicide total recorded in both 2016 and 2015. The homicide total was 171 on this day last year.
Police were notified just after 4 p.m. of the triple shooting in the 3600 block of Iowa Avenue in the Gravois Park neighborhood, about three blocks south of the Cherokee Street business district. Arriving officers found a male victim who had been shot multiple times and was losing consciousness, police said. He died at a hospital.
A second male victim was shot in the hand, and a female was shot in the eye. Both of them were conscious and breathing when taken to a hospital, police said.
Police were called to the first shooting Friday about 1:24 a.m. in the 8600 block of South Broadway in the Patch neighborhood. A male victim had been shot once in the ankle and was taken to a hospital in stable condition, police said.
About 2:28 a.m. a male victim was shot multiple times in the 1900 block of Locust Street, near police headquarters downtown. The man was in critical, stable condition at a hospital, police said.
A man in his 20s was shot in the torso about 10:25 a.m. in the 3800 block of Keokuk Street in the Dutchtownneighborhood. He was taken to a hospital where he was listed in stable condition at a hospital, police said.
Two later shootings happened about two hours apart in the Mark Twain I-70 Industrial neighborhood.
Police were called to the 4700 block of Goodfellow Boulevard shortly after 1 p.m. and found a man who had been shot multiple times, police said. He was conscious and breathing when taken to a hospital.
Police called to a shooting just after 3 p.m. in the 5700 block of Natural Bridge near Goodfellow Boulevard found a man in his 30s who had been shot in the neck and stomach, police said. The man was conscious and breathing when he was taken to a hospital.
About 2:10 p.m. a gunshot victim who had been shot in the chin arrived at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, police said. He told investigators he was in the area of West Florissant Avenue and North Kingshighway when he heard gunshots and felt a sharp pain. He was in stable condition at a hospital. The intersection is near Bellefontaine Cemetary in the Mark Twain neighborhood.
The city matched the homicide totals recorded in both 2015 and 2016 when three homicides on Thanksgiving Day brought the city’s total to 188.
Police have not identified the three suspected homicide victims or identified a fourth person fatally shot by police in the College Hill neighborhood. The man had pointed a gun at two officers patrolling the neighborhood, police said at a Thursday news conference.
Officials said Friday morning that they may not provide any more information until Monday, when the public information office re-opens.
The last time homicides in the city exceeded 188 was in 1995, when the total reached 204. But the city’s population was nearly 20 percent higher than it is now. In 2014 St. Louis had 159 homicides, and in 2013 there were 120.
Interim St. Louis Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole told the Post-Dispatch earlier this week that homicide rates were on the increase nationally and that St. Louis was reflecting the national trend, attributing the increase partially to lax gun laws and the drug trade.
yeah, yeah, yeah….. another list of who was killed by guns, and there’s NEVER a description of why they were killed.
Number one was probably selling talcum powder as heroin, two was screwing someone’s under-aged daughter, three was robbing someone, etc. etc.
More than 90% of murder victims know their attacker, and that makes being murdered a lifestyle choice. I’m glad every one of them is dead. Their killers probably did society a big favor.