Police Shoot Man Armed With Pellet Gun In South St. Louis

ST. LOUIS, MO — Authorities say a police officer shot a man armed with a pellet gun near a south St. Louis auto parts store Wednesday evening. St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden said the shooting happened around 7 p.m. as police were investigating a case of credit card fraud at the store. The credit card had been taken in a robbery in St. Louis County on Monday, Hayden said in a video posted to Twitter and Periscope, and used at the store sometime over the following days.

The shooting happened in the 3500 block of Gravois Avenue after two police officers responded to a call from store employees reporting that the card had been used again at the store on Wednesday.

The responding officers were a 32-year-old woman with 9 years of experience and a 25-year-old man with just over a year, Hayden said. Employees called police just after 6:30 p.m.

"When they arrived, they saw the person they were interested in as far as detention," Hayden said. "At one point in time, they tried to take this person into custody for this detention, at which time they fell to the ground. Struggle ensues. And the officer noticed that this person has a pistol in his waistband. Now the struggle is over the pistol itself. So as they struggle over the pistol, the female officer fires one shot at the suspect, striking him in the chest."

Hayden said the suspect — a 35-year-old man — was taken into custody and transported to an area hospital where he is stable condition.

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Officers later recovered the pistol, which turned out to be a pellet gun. Hayden said it is a replica of a semi-automatic handgun and "very realistic looking."

Hayden said there is video of the shooting from surveillance cameras at the auto parts store and that the city's Force Investigation Unit is investigating.

"At some point in time, we will be able to release the video," Hayden said. He didn't give an exact timeline for the video's release, but said it would be released as soon as possible without compromising the investigation. He added that the video is clear in depicting the events he described.

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