Brothers Cleared of Wrongdoing In 2017 Robbery

ST. LOUIS, MO — Two St. Louis brothers say only their mother's dogged fight to get police to review surveillance video of an alleged mugging got them off the hook for robbery and led to a man who claimed to be their victim being charged with the crime instead. The Post-Dispatch reported their story earlier this month.

Jerry Tate, 23, and Christopher Tate, 24, were charged last summer with robbery after after 29-year-old Patrick John Owens told police they had robbed him and stolen his gun.

What really happened, according to newly filed court documents, is that Owens had tried to rob the Tates at gunpoint, shooting Christopher Tate in the process, only to have his gun wrestled away from him.

“I was on top of him when he shot me,” Christopher Tate said. “When he fired the gun the bullet hit the bone in my hand. It went through my right jaw. If I had not put my hand out it probably would have blown my entire face off.”

Owens fled and the Tates hid the gun in a flower pot because they feared being seen with it. Then they stopped two bike cops and told them what happened, but the officers didn't believe them.

Christopher Tate was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to the hand and face. His brother was taken to jail. In the meantime, Owens had called police and given them his own version of events, telling authorities that the Tates had started a fight and stolen his gun.

Police initially believed Owens' version of events. Owens is white, while the Tates are black. The brothers think that might have had something to do with the way things played out.

“I believe they listened to him because he was white,” Christopher Tate told the Post-Dispatch.

Christopher Tate said he was treated with suspicion by coworkers and his boss after returning to work after the shooting.

“‘Why did the paper say you robbed someone and that’s how you got shot?’” Tate recalls his boss asking. “He said ‘If it wasn’t true the paper wouldn’t have said it.’”

Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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