Teenager dead, six critically wounded in north St. Louis shooting

March 24, 2017

Teenager dead, six critically wounded in north St. Louis shooting

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Teenager dead, six critically wounded in north St. Louis shooting

By Nassim Benchaabane and Christine Byers St. Louis Post-Dispatch2 hrs ago

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St. Louis police investigate in the alley behind the 5100 block of Palm St. after a fatal shooting on Friday, March 24, 2017, in St. Louis, Mo. Photo by Chris Lee, clee@post-dispatch.com

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St. Louis police investigate after a fatal shooting on the 5100 block of Palm St. on Friday, March 24, 2017, in St. Louis, Mo. Photo by Chris Lee, clee@post-dispatch.com

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St. Louis police investigate in the alley behind the 5100 block of Palm St. after a fatal shooting on Friday, March 24, 2017, in St. Louis, Mo. Photo by Chris Lee, clee@post-dispatch.com

Police officers swarmed the section of Palm Street between Geraldine and Norwood avenues where several people were reported to be wounded in a shooting Friday evening. (Photo by Nassim Benchaabane)

ST. LOUIS • A 15-year-old boy was killed and six other people, including an 8-year-old boy, were critically wounded in a shooting Friday evening in north St. Louis, police said.

Police Lt. John Green said the 8-year-old was shot in the face and was in critical and unstable condition. The other survivors were in critical but stable condition. Those five victims are from 17 to 40 years old, and all are male.

The gunfire started about 6:30 p.m. “We don’t know what caused the shooting,” Green said in a briefing at the scene about two hours later. “There was no argument according to witnesses, what little they told us.”

He said special operations and district officers who happened to be in the area heard the gunfire and rushed to the scene, which is in the 5100 block of Palm Street between Geraldine and Norwood avenues. The block of apartment buildings is just south of Natural Bridge Avenue near North Kingshighway.

Green said several people were outside a building sitting or standing on a porch or on the lawn when the gunfire erupted. Some witnesses said there were three suspects, but Green said that number hadn’t been confirmed. He also said some of the victims were not being cooperative.

“When we interviewed some of the victims they didn’t want to say anything,” Green said. Dozens of residents watched as police investigated.

One witness said the shooters came out of an apartment building on the block, opened fire at people across the street and then ran through a gangway, into an alley and west on Geraldine Avenue.

Green said police needed the public’s help to solve the crime. “We’ll visit the witnesses and victims later on and hopefully they’ll come forward with some information,” he said.

In the meantime, he encouraged anyone with information about the shooting to call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477.

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