ST. LOUIS – A suspect admitted to federal prosecutors and a judge this month that he unleashed a barrage of gunfire in a well-known downtown St. Louis park.
Local prosecutors originally said they did not believe police who investigated the incident, but now the FOX Files obtained newly-released videos that appear to paint the real picture of what happened.
The videos are from March 2022 at Kiener Plaza. In the videos, you can see a suspect right here in the middle of downtown – firing into the air. You can also see him shoot at a passing van.
Former St. Louis prosecutors accused police of lying about the man last year. That man then admitted what he did to federal prosecutors.
The videos show defendant Allen L. Robinson, who pleaded guilty to a gun charge. Federal prosecutor Don Boyce secured Robinson’s guilty plea, which comes with a 27-month prison sentence.
Boyce told us, “Federal law prohibits people from possessing firearms for a number of reasons. Being under an order of protections is one of the reasons that a person can be prohibited and that was the one that applied to Robinson’s case.”
Robinson’s plea included his admission that after the Kiener Plaza video – the defendant “…stepped out into the street in front of a police car and displayed a gun to the officers inside.”
Prosecutor Boyce added, “The police drove away to get away from him and when he turned — when the police turned around, other officers caught him. So, he admitted to those facts.”
A year ago, prosecutors in the city failed to charge Robinson. They questioned the allegations made by St. Louis officers.
In 2022, now-former Chief Warrant Officer Chris Hinkley said at a news conference, “This case has been dismissed for good reason. I hope to never see something like this enter the Circuit Attorney’s warrant office again.”
Hinckley, who worked under former Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said the evidence did not support what police officers alleged at the time. Their allegations were recorded in a March 2022 police body worn camera in which you can hear one officer say, “He walked up to my car and put the gun like this at my window!”
The former Circuit Attorney’s office, during the April 2022 news conference, showed business surveillance video it claimed simply showed a man stumbling near an unmarked police truck – nothing more. Former CAO Diversion Specialist Redditt Hudson said at the time, “The video evidence in no way lined up with the portrayal of events that we received from the officers in question – not even close.”