Feb. 3, 2023 Two St. Louis police officers were shot near Soulard Market Thursday night.
By Kim Bell Source St. Louis Post-Dispatch (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
ST. LOUIS — Two St. Louis police officers were shot near Soulard Market Thursday night. Police returned fire, hitting the suspect in the ankle, authorities said.
The officers and the suspect, a 38-year-old man, were all taken to a hospital. One officer was shot in the side of his torso and was treated and released. The other was shot in the torso and the arm and was stable Friday morning. The suspect was treated, released and taken into custody.
The shooting, in a busy entertainment section of south St. Louis, left residents, patrons and business owners disturbed.
The incident began around 10:30 p.m. when Third District officers tried to stop a Ford truck in the 800 block of Julia Street, in the Lasalle Park neighborhood near Soulard, in connection with a first-degree robbery investigation. The officers, in a marked patrol SUV, turned on their lights and siren, police said.
The Ford drove away, went through the courtyard of the Soulard Market and crashed, police said. A man ran from the vehicle and fired shots at the officers at South Ninth Street and Lafayette Avenue. The officers returned fire, hitting the suspect in his ankle, said St. Louis police Chief Robert Tracy. The suspect collapsed in an alley.
Both officers are men. One is 38 and has been with the police department 14 years; the other is 24 and has two years of service.
Jordan Fanger, 28, was arriving in Soulard to meet friends at a karaoke bar on South Ninth Street when he heard the barrage of gunfire — first just two shots, then a rapid succession of at least 20 rounds, he said. He said he hopped out of his car and ran into the bar, warning the employees to lock their doors.
“It sounded like so many rounds being shot,” Fanger said. “It was not something I’ve heard before.”
Fanger is a former Soulard resident who now lives in Collinsville.
“Soulard, in my opinion, used to be a nice bubble, and I felt safe there,” he said. “Now it just seems like every week gunshots ring out. Nothing of this caliber. I feel like Soulard has become a more dangerous place, and crime is creeping into areas of the city that used to be safer areas.”
St. Louis police reported 22 aggravated assaults involving firearms in Soulard last year, up from 13 in 2021. Soulard’s rate of 5.7 such assaults per 1,000 residents in 2022 ranked 40th out of 74 city neighborhoods with populations above 900. The Mark Twain I-70 Industrial neighborhood had the highest rate, 44.3.
A man was shot and killed earlier this year in a Soulard parking lot, and three days later another man chased down and killed someone he said tried to steal his car at a Soulard gas station.
Scott Youll, who’s lived for six months in a townhome on 9th Street just across from where the shooting happened, said he and his girlfriend were up watching TV when the shots rang out.
“I went and looked out the window, and then a couple of cop cars flew by,” he told the Post-Dispatch. “I saw the guy in the street. There were a couple of shots, then we looked at each other, and then we just heard a barrage of shots.”
Youll said he doesn’t feel the neighborhood is very safe, noting he hears gunshots at least once every two weeks and both his and his neighbor’s car were recently broken into. He added that he rarely walks the neighborhood alone after dark.
Chief Tracy provided an update early Friday outside Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where he visited one of the officers around midnight Thursday.
“Let’s all remember that this is a dangerous job that we do,” said Tracy, who started his job as St. Louis police chief less than a month ago. His longtime career in law enforcement included most recently the position of police chief in Wilmington, Delaware.
Chief Tracy said the Ford truck apparently had been used in a robbery Tuesday in the 3800 block of Lindell Boulevard.
The Force Investigative Unit is investigating the shooting, as happens with all police shootings in the city.
The officers were wearing bullet-resistant vests, but the vests have openings that allow for mobility, said a spokesperson for the department.
Tracy noted the violence is not unique to St. Louis.
“Each and every city is going through their issues, so let’s not make this about St. Louis,” Tracy said. “But it is a serious issue. People that carry guns that will shoot at other citizens — shoot at our police officers — have to be brought to justice.”
Michael Macchi, owner of Bogart’s Smokehouse in Soulard, said the area feels relatively safe to him. He said the shooting could have happened anywhere, and he noted that the suspect just took a few turns and ended up in Soulard.
“What happened here last night is happening all over the city,” he said.
His restaurant just celebrated its 12th year in the neighborhood, and he said he’s looking forward to another 12.
“It’s just like any other neighborhood, unfortunately. Things are happening no matter where you are,” he said. “Everybody is more aware of their surroundings, you know?
“The police force is understaffed, I think everybody is just frustrated. We’d like to see our elected officials step up and support the police and the first responders, you know, work together to get this thing under control.”
Ben Haug, who works at Protagonist Cafe near the scene of the shooting, has lived in his Soulard residence for about six months. He lived in the neighborhood for a year previously, as well.
He said feels the neighborhood is safe and walks to work every day.
“I don’t feel unsafe walking at night, because we get off at like 7:30-8 p.m.,” he said. “So I always feel fine. You always have to keep your eye out obviously, but I feel like Soulard has unfortunately been the site for a few bad things that have happened. I don’t necessarily know if it’s an unsafe area. It’s been a victim recently of some bad things happening.”
Josh Renaud of the Post-Dispatch contributed.