ST. LOUIS – Two juveniles were arrested after a crash Wednesday in the Downtown West area. Both are also accused of murder, in addition to a series of St. Louis carjackings, in recent days.
Authorities expect to transfer one 16-year-old juvenile into federal custody for his suspected involvement in the crimes, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
One 17-year-old is in custody at a juvenile detention center. An 18-year-old, identified by police as Cameron Brown, was also arrested in the crash Wednesday and will be prosecuted as an adult.
Police claim the suspects in the crash are “believed to possibly be responsible” for carjackings Monday and Tuesday, along with the murder of 38-year-old Kay Johnson. Investigators say Johnson died earlier this week during an attempted carjacking in the 4700 block of Compton Avenue.
Following those crimes, a joint task force with St. Louis and federal authorities collected information. The task force reviewed surveillance footage and found a black vehicle Wednesday afternoon, which reported stolen from a carjacking in December.
As police approached one person entering the vehicle, the driver took off from an undisclosed place in St. Louis City. Police then followed the vehicle for an undisclosed amount of time and deployed tire spikes.
During the encounter, the driver in the wanted vehicle ended up running a red light before a driver with a green light struck the car. The wanted vehicle ended up near the corner of Delmar Boulevard and North 20th Street around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
“The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department will continue working with federal partners, both in this newly formed task force investigating these recent incidents, as well as in our normal day to day operations, in an effort to hold the most violent offenders to the highest degree of accountability afforded to us under the law,” the department said in a statement Thursday.
Police have not disclosed the names of the 16- and 17-year-olds involved in the crash. Meanwhile, Brown is jailed in St. Louis City without bond on charges of tampering with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest.
Investigations into the crash, Johnson’s murder and the recent series of carjackings remain ongoing.