ST. LOUIS — Yesterday afternoon, in the middle of the busy downtown area, a person on a skateboard was gunned down. The victim, whose name has not been disclosed, was a 30-year-old frequent skateboarder in Kiener Plaza.
Police have eyewitness accounts of the incident, but there is no description of the suspect who fled the scene. Now, the police are using their real-time crime center surveillance cameras to try and find the killer. This is the 46th homicide that St. Louis Metro Police have investigated this year.
The incident occurred at 7th and Market, where the victim had tried to run away from the shooter before winding up in Kiener Plaza. Bommarito Automotive Group Skyfox was over the scene as the police got the call around 3:30 pm yesterday afternoon for the shooting.
According to investigators, the victim was taking a break on a bench in Kiener Plaza when the shooter approached him, and the two started arguing. At that point, the suspect opened fire, and the victim tried to run away. The suspect chased after him, continuing to fire shots. Eventually, the victim collapsed, and the suspect stood over him and shot him more times.
A total of 15 shots were fired, with at least one of them shattering the glass of an SUV with a man inside, who was fortunately unharmed. A bullet also cracked a window at the nearby PWC building. The police call this a targeted attack because of the verbal altercation and hope surveillance video from nearby cameras can help them identify the shooter, who ran away after the murder.
Although the police know very little about the shooter other than that he is male, they encourage anyone with information to call St. Louis Police or Crime Stoppers.