ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office declined to file charges against a local man who shot and killed a burglar over the weekend in self-defense. However, prosecutors charged the woman who helped organize the burglary that ended with the burglar’s death.
According to Evita Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the shooting happened just after 4:20 p.m. in the 10000 block of Riverview Drive.
Officers arrived at the scene and found a man, identified as Katrell McCurry, suffering from multiple gunshots. He was unconscious and not breathing. McCurry was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
Police initially took a 37-year-old man into custody for the shooting.
Upon further investigation, it was determined the shooter was defending himself in his home, per a report from our news partners at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was released on Wednesday, “citing lack of evidence as a self-defense claim was made and the castle doctrine.”
Instead, police arrested 31-year-old Tierra Gines as an accomplice in the attempted burglary.
According to a probable cause statement, Gines was at the home with the 37-year-old when she texted McCurry and informed him there were guns and cash at the residence, and encouraged him to steal property from the home.
As a result, Gines was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree burglary.