ST. LOUIS — A suspected gunman on Tuesday was charged in the fatal shooting of a man in downtown St. Louis one day earlier.
The suspect, 23-year-old Deshawn Thomas, was taken into custody hours after the shooting when he was spotted by an officer on patrol, police said Tuesday.
Witnesses told investigators the suspect killed the man after a fight near the Shell gas station in the 700 block of North Tucker Boulevard.
The victim, identified Tuesday afternoon as David Saldana, was found killed on the sidewalk shortly after 10 a.m. Monday in front of The Globe Building near Tucker and Convention Plaza. Police believe Saldana may have been homeless.
Thomas ran from the scene, police said Tuesday. The officer who spotted him called for backup, and police arrested Thomas as he entered the St. Louis Public Library on Olive Street.
He was arrested without incident, and officers said they found a gun and bullet casing on him.
A bystander video of the killing circulated online Tuesday despite social media companies including Twitter taking down several versions.
The video shows two men standing over Saldana, who is sprawled on a curb on Tucker as vehicles drive by and at least one pedestrian walks past.
One of the men leaves the area while the other struggles to load a gun.
The man loading the gun appears to talk briefly on a cell phone, loads the gun and shoots Saldana one time in the head. The video ends with the video narrator saying, “He just (expletive) killed him!”
Hesitant on linking to the video, but I’ll leave it under a spoiler. The camera pans away as he’s shot, but it’s still incredibly sad.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local...cle_641fbd7a-d138-5f6c-acbb-2ba07ac2183a.html
