When there was a gun fight immediately outside our windows, then not a police interview, detailed news article, or care from the community I couldn’t understand how people could be so apathetic.
After living here a year I’ll spell out the desensitization process:
[PS I have much more to say about all of this, but this is just a quick summary.]
In AZ I got crime alert emails. I checked a 3 mile radius around our house. There was mostly stolen bikes or an occasional fight, but I’d say I would have a list of about 8 incidents per week.
In Saint Louis, I have the same brand crime alerts. I have the radius set at 1 mile and I get 2-3 alerts per day with 7-8 incidents each. At first I read them all. Now, I only engage with the alerts within 3 blocks of the apartment–otherwise it’s just too much.
*
Something huge and scary happens (a 14 person machine gun fight immediately outside of your windowed loft).
There is no substantial response or follow-up.
The community downplays it (see my Reddit thread on a different post). The loft, police, media all ignore it.
We never found out who/why or what came of it, but now there is a bullet hole in our car.
*
We pay for a parking spot within the locked gates. My 1999 car was broken into anyway.
The apartment didn’t tell us if they checked the video, and we don’t know if the person was caught.
It took like 9 weeks for the window to be replaced because everyone has busted out windows. Now that it’s “fixed” we can’t ever roll that window down because it won’t go up again.
We called the police to file a report and 2 officers came by then chatted with us for a long time:
Me: Do you know what happened when there was a shootout here???
LE: When? Naw, we weren’t working.
ME: There’s gunshots a lot around here. I called 9-11 two other times when I heard them?!
LE: Oh yeah, it IS Saint Louis. It’s actually pretty good up North, people there are really part of a community.
ME: Ummm, Reddit said there were automatic guns–do you guys see automatics?
LE: Oh yeah [said like, duh, obviously].
*
Then, our storage units in the apartment building were broken into. My $300 Sorrel snowboots, $130 Roxy snowboard jacket, and $100 snowboard/bike helmet were stolen. Among other things.
The apartment did not send a text like they do about parking, we don’t know if they checked the cameras or key fob memory–and they certainly didn’t tighten security in the storage area.
We made a police report, and he came, looked incredibly bored, did not even step onto the property let alone go inside to see the broken storage doors, and didn’t say they would investigate.
Nothing came of it.
*
There were more gunshots. When I called 911 they asked if I could SEE the guns. No. OK, let us know…
Nothing came of it.
*
At Christmas, a package of hand-knitted scarves and (MY ULTIMATE FAVORITE) homemade peanut butter bon bons was stolen.
The apartment didn’t tell us if they looked at the camera footage or not. And the mail room was not made more secure.
The USPS assured me they had delivered the package and closed the case without doing anything else.
We didn’t even call the police. If they didn’t care about hundreds of dollars worth of belongings stolen, they weren’t going to care about scarves and treats.
*
On my email alerts it said someone was raped. IN OUR building! We couldn’t find anything else about it.
We started leaving the loft in pairs, and only during daylight.
*
More shooting. And a fight. Should we even bother to call 9-11? I did. Can you see the gun? Yes. Is it being pointed at anyone? Yes, he’s standing on the floorboard of his car, swinging it around at multiple people. But nobody was even sent over (this is 11AM on a Tuesday). No word what happened. I got an email alert and they had listed my call under “sundry.”
We texted the apartments and they asked which cars. We never heard if they looked at the cameras, or if the gunman got in any kind of trouble…
*
One winter evening I was closing the blinds at 5PM and the next block over there was a car on fire. I called 9-11 and they said fire was on their way. The firetrucks showed up, put the fire out, and went on their way in less than 30 minutes.
It wasn’t on the news, or the neighborhood app. It was not even listed in my crime alert emails. We have no idea what happened…
Nothing came of it.
*
We work from home and around 10AM there was chaotic knocking on the door to our loft. We weren’t expecting anyone so we hung back. A few minutes later someone tried their key. Luckily, we have a security bar wedged up when we’re home. We didn’t know who it was!
We texted and called the apartment management and heard nothing back… For 3 days.
In the interim, somebody used their key without knocking in the afternoon.
Another day, I had gone to bed and was sleeping, and Cool said they used their key again (without knocking) trying to get inside!
At no time did this person/people announce themselves.
Finally, the manager called back and said inspections are in our lease, but he would talk to the guys about knocking. He wouldn’t tell us WHY we were being inspected.
Nobody ever came back.
Nothing came of it.
*
I read a news report that a homeless man was sitting on the sidewalk across from the courthouse/DMV/registrar/etc.., etc… (less than a mile from our apt) late-morning, with a lot of people out and about. Someone shot him in the head point blank and someone else posted the video to Twitter.
The case is ongoing.
*
That said, when we ordered wedding-type rings and they were not delivered inside of the mailbox, but stolen instead–we didn’t even bother making a police report.
Again, the apartment didn’t care. We don’t know if they checked the cameras. I persistently contacted them, and they told me to file an insurance claim…
Nothing came of it around here though.
*
Isn’t it funny after reading that your first sense is to blame the victim? You should’ve known, YOU moved there, why don’t you just move? And maybe your second inclination is to say it’s systemic, or it’s just as bad in other places, or bringing up politics, gun-control. But none of that is helpful. I (everyone) should have an expectation of being safe-end of story.
So there you have it. When so many, many things happen. When BIG things happen. People stop calling the police. Because this event is actually better than that last one. Or they don’t call because they know the dispatcher will mark the call “sundry” or police won’t come out at all, or they’re busier with larger matters. People stop telling their housing manager because it’s made obvious that not only do they NOT care one iota, they’re not going to do anything, and we won’t hear anything back. And you stop reporting to the USPS because they also won’t do anything either. So people learn to live with it.
When you are young, they assume you know nothing…/…But I knew you/Playing hide-and-seek and/Giving me your weekends, I/I knew you…/…’Cause I knew you/Steppin’ on the last train/Marked me like a bloodstain, I/I knew you/Tried to change the ending/Peter losing Wendy, I/I knew you/Leavin’ like a father/Running like water, I/And when you are young, they assume you know nothing/But I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss/I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs/The smell of smoke would hang around this long/’Cause I knew everything when I was young/I knew I’d curse you for the longest time/Chasin’ shadows in the grocery line/I knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired/And you’d be standin’ in my front porch light/And I knew you’d come back to me
I split the songs up on the Lover album as well so we can delve into each one a bit more.
Cornelia Street
We were a fresh page on the desk/Filling in the blanks as we go…/…We bless the rains on Cornelia Street/Memorize the creaks in the floor/Back when we were card sharks, playing games/I thought you were leading me on/I packed my bags, left Cornelia Street/Before you even knew I was gone/But then you called, showed your hand
UGH, can researchers stop lumping gay men and lesbians into the same category as if we’re some homogeneous group?! I’d like to see many more categories of bi people too-they are certainly not a monolith.
The songs on Reputation are packed with meaning, and there are many rabbit holes to go down. As such, this post would be too long if I included each song as I did with Debut, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989. I’ll release these song by song.
Dress
Our secret moments in your crowded room/They’ve got no idea about me and you.../…I don’t want you like a best friend/Only bought this dress so you could take it off…/…And if I get burned, at least we were electrified…/…Everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing about…/…All of this silence and patience, pining in anticipation/My hands are shaking from holding back from you (ah, ah, ah)/All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting…/…Even in my worst times, you could see the best of me/Flashback to my mistakes/My rebounds, my earthquakes/Even in my worst lies, you saw the truth of me/And I woke up just in time/Now I wake up by your side/My one and only, my lifeline…/…My hands shake, I can’t explain this (ha, ha, ha, ha)
The songs on Reputation are packed with meaning, and there are many rabbit holes to go down. As such, this post would be too long if I included each song as I did with Debut, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989. I’ll release these song by song.
New Year’s Day
There’s glitter on the floor after the party/Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby…/…You and me from the night before but/Don’t read the last page/But I stay when you’re lost and I’m scared and you’re turning away/I want your midnights/But I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day/You squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi/I can tell that it’s going to be a long road…/…But I stay when it’s hard or it’s wrong or you’re making mistakes/Please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere…/…You and me forevermore
The songs on Reputation are packed with meaning, and there are many rabbit holes to go down. As such, this post would be too long if I included each song as I did with Debut, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989. I’ll release these song by song.
King Of My Heart
And we rule the kingdom inside my room/’Cause all the boys and their expensive cars/With their Range Rovers and their Jaguars/Never took me quite where you do/And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for/King of my heart, body and soul, ooh whoa/And all at once, you’re all I want, I’ll never let you go…/…Your love is a secret I’m hoping, dreaming, dying to keep/Change my priorities/The taste of your lips is my idea of luxury
Walkin’ through a crowd, the village is aglow/Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats/Everybody here wanted somethin’ more/Searchin’ for a sound we hadn’t heard before…/…When we first dropped our bags on apartment floors/Took our broken hearts, put them in a drawer/Everybody here was someone else before/And you can want who you want/Boys and boys and girls and girls…/…Like any great love, it keeps you guessing/Like any real love, it’s ever-changing/Like any true love, it drives you crazy/But you know you wouldn’t change anything, anything, anything
Blank Space
Magic, madness, heaven, sin…/…You look like my next mistake/Love’s a game, wanna play?” Ay…/…New money, suit and tie…/…Ain’t it funny? Rumors fly/And I know you heard about me/So hey, let’s be friends/I’m dying to see how this one ends…/…I can make the bad guys good for a weekend…/…You can tell me when it’s over, mm…/…Got a long list of ex-lovers…/…And you love the game/’Cause we’re young, and we’re reckless/We’ll take this way too far/It’ll leave you breathless, mm/Or with a nasty scar…/…But I’ve got a blank space, baby/And I’ll write your name…/…Stolen kisses, pretty lies/You’re the King, baby, I’m your Queen/Find out what you want/Be that girl for a month/Wait, the worst is yet to come, oh, no/Screaming, crying, perfect storms/I can make all the tables turn…/…Don’t say I didn’t, say I didn’t warn ya/THEY’LL tell you I’m insane (I’m insane)/’Cause YOU know I love the players…
Style
Midnight/You come and pick me up, no headlights…/…Could end in burning flames or paradise…/…And I should just tell you to leave ’cause I/Know exactly where it leads…/…And I got that good girl faith and a tight little skirt/And when we go crashing down, we come back every time…/…Oh, you got that James Dean daydream look in your eye/And I got that red lip classic thing that you like
Out of the Woods
Then discovered…/…The rest of the world was black and white/But we were in screaming color…/…Are we out of the woods?/Are we in the clear yet?…/…The night we couldn’t quite forget/When we decided, we decided/To move the furniture so we could dance/Baby, like we stood a chance/Two paper airplanes flying, flying, flying…/…Remember when we couldn’t take the heat?/I walked out, I said “I’m setting you free”/But the monsters turned out to be just trees/When the sun came up you were looking at me
All You Had to Do Was Stay
People like you always want back the love they gave away/And people like me wanna believe you when you say you’ve changed/The more I think about it now, the less I know…/…Then why’d you have to go and lock me out when I let you in?
Shake It Off
I go on too many dates [chuckle]/But I can’t make ’em stay/At least that’s what people say, mmm-mmm…/…And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate…/…I shake it off, I shake it off…/…I never miss a beat/I’m lightning on my feet/And that’s what they don’t see…/…I’m dancing on my own (dancing on my own)/I make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go)
More examples:
These had too many pics to post a concise list on this post, but check out the websites. It shows a lot of relationships, marriages, babies, cheating, fights, etc, etc… are orchestrated to generate buzz and ultimately sell a product:
You think I’m gonna hate you now/’Cause you still don’t know what I never said…/…I wish you knew that/I’d never forget you as long as I’d live…/…We’re a crooked love/In a straight line down/Makes you wanna run and hide/Then it makes you turn right back around…/…And remember what we were fighting for…/…This mad, mad love makes you come rushing
Exp 2:
Bad Blood
You know it used to be mad love…/…Now we got problems/And I don’t think we can solve ’em/You made a really deep cut…/…I was thinking that you could be trusted/Did you have to ruin/What was shining? Now it’s all rusted/Did you have to hit me/Where I’m weak? Baby, I couldn’t breathe/And rub it in so deep/Salt in the wound like you’re laughing right at me…/…Did you think we’d be fine?/Still got scars on my back from your knife/So don’t think it’s in the past/These kind of wounds they last and they last/Now did you think it all through?/All these things will catch up to you…/…If you live like that, you live with ghosts (ghosts, ghosts)/Band-aids don’t fix bullet holes (hey!)/You say sorry just for show …/…Hm, if you love like that, blood runs cold/’Cause baby, now we got bad blood
Wildest Dreams
…”Let’s get out of this town/Drive out of the city, away from the crowds“/I thought Heaven can’t help me now/Nothing lasts forever/But this is gonna take me down…/…I said, “No one has to know what we do”/His hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room…/…You’ll see me in hindsight/Tangled up with you all night/Burning it down/Someday when you leave me/I bet these memories/Follow you around…/…Say you’ll see me again/Even if it’s just (pretend, just pretend) in your wildest dreams/In your wildest dreams/Even if it’s just stayed in your wildest dreams
How You Get the Girl
Stand there like a ghost/Shaking come the rain, rain/She’ll open up the door/And say, are you insane…/…And you were too afraid to tell her what you want, want…/…And then you say/I want you for worse or for better…/…Tell her how you must’ve lost your mind/When you left her all alone and never told her why, why/And that’s how it works/That’s how you lost the girl…/…Broke your heart, I’ll put it back together…/…And you could know, oh/That I don’t want you to go
This Love
High tide came and brought you in…/…Skies grew darker/Currents swept you out again…/…In silent screams/In wildest dreams/I never dreamed of this/This love is good/This love is bad…/…In losing grip/On sinking ships…/…This love left a permanent mark/This love is glowing in the dark…/…I watched you leave/Your smile, my ghost/I fell to my knees/When you’re young, you just run/But you come back to what you need
I Know Places
It’s a scene, and we’re out here in plain sight/I can hear them whisper as we pass by/It’s a bad sign, bad sign/Something happens when everybody finds out/See the vultures circling, dark clouds/Love’s a fragile little flame, it could burn out…/…’Cause they got the cages, they got the boxes/And guns/They are the hunters, we are the foxes/And we run/Baby, I know places we won’t be found and/They’ll be chasing their tails trying to track us down…/…Lights flash and we’ll run for the fences/Let them say what they want, we won’t hear it/Loose lips sink ships all the damn time/Not this time…/…they take their shots, but we’re bulletproof
You’re still all over me/Like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore/Hung my head as I lost the war/And the sky turned black like a perfect storm/Rain came pouring down/When I was drowning, that’s when I could finally breathe/And by morning/Gone was any trace of you, I think I am finally clean…/…There was nothing left to do…/…So I punched a hole in the roof/Let the flood carry away all my pictures of you/The water filled my lungs, I screamed so loud/But no one heard a thing…/…Ten months sober, I must admit/Just because you’re clean, don’t mean you don’t miss it/Ten months older, I won’t give in/Now that I’m clean, I’m never gonna risk it
Flashing lights and we/Took a wrong turn and we/Fell down a rabbit hole…/…’Cause nothing’s as it seems/And spinning out of control…/…Haven’t you heard what becomes of curious minds?/Ooh, didn’t it all seem new and exciting?/I felt your arms twisting around me/I should’ve slept with one eye open at night…/…We found Wonderland/You and I got lost in it/And life was never worse but never better…/…Too in love to think straight/All alone, or so it seemed/But there were strangers watching/And whispers turned to talking/And talking turned to screams, oh…/…It’s all fun and games ’til somebody loses their mind…/…I knew I had to go back home/You search the world for something else/To make you feel like what we had/And in the end, in Wonderland, we both went mad
One look, dark room/Meant just for you…/…No proof, one touch/But you felt enough…/…You can hear it in the silence, silence, you/You can feel it on the way home, way home, you/You can see it with the lights out, lights out/You are in love, true love…/…He keeps his word/And for once, you let go/Of your fears and your ghosts/One step, not much/But it said enough…/…One night he wakes/Strange look on his face/Pauses, then says/You’re my best friend/And you knew what it was/He is in love…/…And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars/And why I’ve spent my whole life tryin’ to put it into words
New Romantics
We’re all bored/We’re all so tired of everything/We wait for trains that just aren’t coming/We show off our different scarlet letters/Trust me, mine is better/We’re so young/But we’re on the road to ruin/We play dumb but we know exactly what we’re doin’…/…I could build a castle/Out of all the bricks they threw at me/And every day is like a battle/But every night with us is like a dream…/…Heartbreak is the national anthem/We sing it proudly/We are too busy dancing/To get knocked off our feet/Baby, we’re the new romantics/The best people in life are free…/…We’re all here/The lights and noise are blinding/We hang back/It’s all in the timing/It’s poker/He can’t see it in my face/But I’m about to play my Ace (ah)/We need love/But all we want is danger/We team up/Then switch sides like a record changer/The rumors are terrible and cruel/But honey, most of them are true
Last Saturday, we skipped cleaning the apartment and calling my parents in favor of going to the zoo. We love zoos, and last time we went to the Phoenix Zoo (our first time since moving here) we hadn’t realized it closes at 4 PM. So we had missed 1/3 of it.
We dressed in our brightest orange shirts. Little known secret-if you dress in super-bright colors you see more animals, better. The animals will come out of hiding places, wake up, and engage with YOU because you are bright and interesting to them. We learned of this at Salt Lake City’s Tracy Aviary. A bird was in the middle of a training session in preparation for the open air show they do. It saw Cool in a bright shirt, and flew away from its trainer to check her out. Ever since then, we have been an effort to make sure and wear our brights–I usually do, anyway.
Navigating parking isn’t fun. It sucks enjoyment out of it for me because I don’t like driving, dealing with traffic and unfamiliar roads, or finding/paying for parking. We moved to this apartment in part, because it’s within a reasonable walking distance to the light rail. It’s 1.8 (maybe 0.8?) miles walk. Easy for us since we are constantly walking to the canal to run, walking around the city to explore, and walking for exercise or enjoyment. We’ve walked more than 3 miles at a time at least 4 times in the last month, and one day we went 7 miles. It’s routine. Anyway, we walked to rail and went to the zoo on public transportation.
Our day at the zoo was really fun. Many exciting things happened. But this particular post isn’t about that. We made a full day of it and got tired so decided to head home around 1:30 or 2 in the afternoon. We commented how rail is the worst on the way home, because it’s so easy just to drive and be directly, and quickly there. Alas, we walked to the stop, waited for one to come, endured many stops, and got out at the stop closest to home. Then, we just had to walk the last couple of miles as we have done so many times before.
At the last intersection before home we had to cross south, then cross west before walking the last block home. The light is always long at that intersection. The traffic was heavy in all directions, being a Saturday afternoon. 2 bikes and another walker (or was it 2 walkers and a bike?) were waiting opposite us to cross north. Finally, the light changed, we got our walk sign, and began to cross-as did everybody else. There are 3 lanes in each direction, and the 4 main ones were all full of cars waiting at the red light, ready to speed westward when our turn was finished. What wasn’t full was the right-most lane.
Cool usually walks slower than I do. She nearly always lags behind me, so that I’m constantly nagging her to catch up/keep up. That day, she was out in front. I don’t know why. She was halfway across the first lane and I was a little in the intersection, when a black car came up. Time slowed down and I had several thoughts as this happened
The car will slow down
The front bumper of this car is literally touching my shins
When this car stops, I’m going to look up and glare at the driver-asshole!
Simultaneously:
I have to jump back to get out from in front of this car
and
Cool is too far away, I can neither pull her back out of the road, nor push her forward out of the way.
The car is NOT stopping!
The black car, which had a Jimmy John’s sign on the driver’s side roof HIT Cool. She was just past the center point of the front hood. The car almost hit her right at its middle point–this was not like me, an almost got hit. It was also not, feel the wind a close call. Cool didn’t get hit a little on a corner or at an angle. She got hit in the center of the car, because she was in the center of the lane–maybe just past it.
It struck me (pun) how hard Cool was hit. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and my brain was astonished that this was really happening. The car making a right turn on red (west bound with intention of heading north-bound) when it struck Cool hard.
What my brain also noticed was that instead of going down and under like I’d thought, Cool was lifted off her feet. She hit the hood of the car with everything from her ankles up. Physics are sometimes counterintuitive.
And she hit hard, with a dramatic crunching sound. It ran through my mind that a lot of people might saaay they’ve been “hit by a car,” when what they really mean is they had a close call, got pinged by a little edge of the car, or felt the wind. I thought-Cool is getting hit by a car–for real.
Then, she bounced off the car and into the street. I didn’t really see her land, because my attention turned to the driver. I was furious! The driver only noticed people in the crosswalk AFTER Cool bounced off her car. Even though we had the right of way, and both of us were in bright ORANGE shirts. She had been on her cell phone.
The driver opened the door and leaned halfway out, black curly hair coming out wildly from under the black Jimmy John’s cap. She was wild-eyed in terror and said, “should I call an ambulance?!” I looked right at her and yelled, “Pay attention!” She totally ignored me and panic-stricken repeated, “Do you need me to call an ambulance?” And I repeated, “You need to pay attention!“
Then I turned my attention back to Cool, who was sitting up in the road. She looked to be in one piece. I didn’t see anything dramatic wrong with her. And she looked like she was in shock, but not brain-damaged. Her eyes and face looked OK to me.
All I thought was, we need to get home. I didn’t want a repeat of the snowboard incident (that took us 4 years to pay off) so I wanted to get her home. I tugged on her arm, trying to help her up and said, “get up, get up.” She didn’t attempt to get up at all, and I knew she was in shock after taking a big hit like that. I coaxed, “please get up, c’mon get up, get up, honey, get up.” She thought for a minute, then stood up.
She made a shuddering sound and I thought she might cry. Which is fine, but we were in the middle of the street, and I also didn’t want her to think too much so that she collapsed and we couldn’t get home.
Cool has been known to be a hypochondriac, and this was a ‘for-real’ big thing, so I didn’t want her to think about it and aggrandize it any bigger than it already was. I figured we would get her out of the busy street, get her inside the house so I didn’t have to carry her or something, and THEN we would take an inventory of the damage and deal with whatever from there.
She limped as we walked the rest of the way through the crosswalk, and I didn’t know what injuries she might have sustained or the severity of them. But I didn’t want to find out in the middle of the desert street.
I was obviously distracted, but I don’t remember any of the other pedestrians crossing the way actually stopping. And I can’t recall any of them voicing concern, or asking Cool if she was OK. I think they just continued on their way.
The other thing I think I remember, but I’m not sure, and it doesn’t seem right, is I think I saw we still had 13 seconds on the crosswalk countdown. But that doesn’t seem right at all, so much happened, I don’t know how it could have been that fast. . . But I don’t think the traffic went through and the light changed cycles either.
On the way across, one of the drivers of a car waiting at the red light rolled down their window and asked if Cool was alright. I don’t remember what either of us answered, but I thought that was nice of him.
Then, I don’t know if I was preoccupied with worry, or also in shock, but I don’t remember waiting for the next crosswalk sign. We had to now cross the other street in the intersection west, and I remember standing there a long time. I remember Cool seemed like she might start crying again, and I told her she could cry, but please wait til we were safely home. And I remember another bicyclist was waiting also, to cross south where we had just come from. I think he missed the incident, because he told me we could cross, but when I looked up I’m sure I saw the red hand. So I don’t know if we were out of it and missed our turn, or if he saw no cars so he suggested we shouldn’t wait for our signal or what. But I saw the red hand and told him she was just literally hit by a car, we’re not taking any chances.
I thought I should call Jimmy John’s and report their careless driver. Mostly, I wanted them to reprimand her, and send a company-wide message to not be using cell phones while making deliveries. I called the closest location, and the manager wasn’t helpful. She kept (pretending) not to hear my story of what just happened, and didn’t really want to deal with me. She ended the call by saying that no female delivery drivers were actually on the schedule–now. I called the other closest branch, and that manager said he doesn’t even have any females employed as delivary drivers. The third, farther location didn’t really make sense, but I called and some dope answered. Turns out, the dope WAS the manager, and in charge of scheduling, but also didn’t have any females driving that day. I asked to speak to HIS boss. He told me he didn’t have the phone #. I asked for the corporate number, and he did seem to take a while to try to find it–I could hear him shuffling papers, then typing. I feel this ought to be easily found, but he never could help me and he sent me to the internet.
We got home, and I was busy trying to find corporate Jimmy John’s. When I finally did, they had regular business hours only M-F 9-5–must be nice.
Cool seemed OK when we got home. Her clothes were half ruined–covered with a fat stripe of road tar. And her elbow and knee had the same road-rash tar scrapes. She complained 1 little spot of her jaw hurt, and there was a lump. Other than that, there was nothing to even take pictures of. She was sore, but nothing big happened. Thank goodness–that’s not usually our life!
She took a shower right then, because I was afraid signs of concussion might come on and she wouldn’t be able to stand. We tried to scrub tar out of her wounds, but there were a lot of micro-scraps from the asphalt and the tar was pretty well embedded.
Luckily, she was OK. It was still one of the scariest things that has ever happened!
ST. LOUIS — City officials on Thursday outlined a plan to combine enforcement and funding to deter crime in the summer months.
The city will devote $1 million in Community Development Block Grants to provide summer programming for children and teens, including camps, pop-up events and three meals a day, officials said at an event with community partners at the O’Fallon Park Rec Complex YMCA.
At the same time, police patrols are being increased, said Heather Taylor, deputy director for the Department of Public Safety. The police department will use data to determine when and where officers should patrol to help reduce crime downtown and in the Downtown West neighborhood.
The dual tactics come amid concerns about an uptick in crime in the downtown area recently and as students are wrapping up classes ahead of summer. Taylor said keeping kids engaged and providing them resources is critical in creating a safer city and a better future. “I actually grew up in St. Louis city, and rec centers are why I’m here,” Taylor said. “… I grew up in the ’90s where homicides were at their highest in the city of St. Louis. If it wasn’t for rec centers, having that outlet and those resources available to me, I wouldn’t be a college graduate.”
The city and St. Louis Public Schools worked together to create Summer Fun STL, a series of youth camps, programs and pop-up events that will take place at seven locations from June 6 through July 29. The offerings also will include three meals a day for kids ages 5 to 17. City officials hope to serve about 700 kids with the programs. The locations are: Nance Elementary, Oak Hill Elementary, Ashland Elementary, Walbridge Elementary, Patrick Henry Downtown, Yeatman Middle School and Peabody Elementary School.
The Gateway Region YMCA also will provide programming with funding from the Prop S Youth at Risk Program. More information on the city’s youth summer programs is available at www.stlouis-mo.gov.
Paired with the new programming, the city is boosting police enforcement efforts. Officers will work 12-hour shifts on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. And during peak crime hours — 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. — the city will increase traffic enforcement, air support, specialized units, park rangers and deputy marshals. A collaboration with the St. Louis Sheriff’s Office also will provide an increased police presence on Washington Avenue and Market Street.
The city began increased patrols of downtown about a month ago, and this week announced they have worked with rentable electric scooter companies to shut down the service at 7 p.m. in the downtown area after residents complained of safety hazards created by the scooters.
Additionally, Lt. Col. Michael Sack announced the city’s public safety department has developed an incident mass notification system in partnership with federal authorities, highway patrol and local agencies, to help the city investigate large-scale violence and mass shootings. Sack is the commander of the Bureau of Community Policing but will take over as interim police chief next month when Chief John Hayden retires.
ST. LOUIS — On a warm June night in downtown St. Louis, a woman walked frantically around Kiener Plaza. She spotted two men in bright orange vests, ran up to them and asked if they’d seen a man with two small children. The kids were her godchildren, she explained, and the man had called to say they were stranded downtown, with no car. His phone had then died. The men in the vests, part of the Downtown Youth Ambassadors, had been paying attention. One asked if a child in the group had curly hair and a grayish shirt. Yes, the woman replied, in relief. “I think I saw them that way, but I’ll keep a lookout,” said the ambassador, pointing west toward Citygarden. When asked by a reporter if similar situations happen often, he nodded. “All the time,” he said, as he and his orange-vested partner continued walking throughout downtown.
The Youth Ambassadors program was created a year ago through the Downtown St. Louis Community Improvement District, a special taxing district that pays for cleaning, security and other services in the city’s entertainment and employment hub. A group of ambassadors, who are mostly school resource officers, patrol the streets every weekend to help visitors, answer questions and spot trouble. One of the primary objectives of the program was to help address mayhem and crimes that have occurred downtown, especially among teens. The ambassadors’ roles drew heightened attention this spring, as large groups of juveniles roamed the streets on electric scooters, with some occasionally breaking into fights. On the first Saturday in June, two teen girls were wounded when gunfire erupted as two groups of juveniles began fighting around 8 p.m. In 2022, at least one teen has been injured by gunfire in downtown every month.
On some nights, the ambassadors witness the aftermath of shootings and fights. Sometimes they rush to help victims of violence. They communicate with police, even when they just sense trouble may be brewing. They also serve as deterrents, stepping in to talk with teens, some of whom they recognize, before mischief turns more serious. Other days are much calmer. Ambassadors will give out directions to visitors trying to find their hotels after sightseeing near the Gateway Arch, or dish out restaurant recommendations to Cardinals fans. “We’re just eyes and ears here to make sure everything is going OK,” said Janice Dickerson, one of the ambassadors.
Forming the program, recruiting ambassadors
The Youth Ambassador program is similar to one started years ago by the Downtown St. Louis CID, but the new version was crafted by Ron Johnson, a retired Missouri Highway Patrol captain. Johnson was appointed by then-Gov. Jay Nixon to head security in Ferguson after the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. He retired in 2018 after three decades in law enforcement and launched a security consulting firm. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner hired Johnson’s firm in 2019 on a one-year contract to serve as a liaison between her office and police.
Kelli McCrary, executive director for Downtown St. Louis CID, brought on Johnson’s firm to help improve safety downtown.
The neighborhood organization has allocated about $100,000 to the Downtown Youth Ambassador program. McCrary says there may be room to grow the program in the future.
Last summer, Johnson drove around for nearly eight weeks and spotted a trend: large groups, sometimes 30 or more youths, on Washington Avenue and along the grassy park areas along Market Street, from Memorial Plaza to Kiener Plaza. His next step, he said, was trying to address how to break up the “youthful” large crowds, which he noted sometimes included older teens and young adults. “I didn’t take the approach ‘Well how do we stop our youth from coming downtown?’” he said. “I didn’t take the approach of ‘Well how do we arrest ourselves out of an issue? But how do we make sure that we can all exist and enjoy the treasures of downtown?’”
Johnson met with Kelvin Adams, superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools, to ask for recommendations from the district’s resource officers, who are trained in de-escalation and crisis intervention, and to help form the team of ambassadors.
Today, most of the ambassadors are resource officers who roam school hallways with students and often recognize those students while working downtown. There are also a few other school employees and retired police officers in the program. “I just love kids. You just have to for this job,” said Cortez Ward, one of the program’s supervisors and a resource officer at Gateway Middle School. Ward is one of about 40 ambassadors working part time on weekends.
The ambassadors are instructed not to disarm people, and they do not have authority to make arrests. They are equipped with vests and radios — and their experience working with youths. “When the kids can see themselves in you, that’s how you form a relationship with them,” Johnson said. “You see them and they see you, and they can begin to put themselves maybe in their position. And when you’re trying to talk to him or her, that’s a better opportunity for them to listen.”
‘You can’t stop everything’
Ambassadors believe they can earn the trust of youths and other residents. Nancy James, an ambassador and former police detective, says some kids will come up to her to warn of trouble. “They’ll point out who has a gun or who is starting a fight,” James said. When trouble does hit, the ambassadors often have to intervene.
One night in May, James took cover when shots rang out near Kiener Plaza. She then calmed a young girl who had a graze wound on her back. James said she connected to police by radio and helped get in contact with the injured girl’s mother.
The ambassadors say that parents have a role to play, pointing out, for example, that they’ve seen adults drop off large groups of kids and then drive off. Police and city officials in recent weeks have pleaded with parents to supervise kids more carefully downtown; some ambassadors say those pleas may help explain why downtown on recent weekends has been calmer.
Others say the city’s ban on scooters downtown has sent a message to kids that they should avoid the area.
Johnson, the program director, says the youths heading downtown are not coming from just one neighborhood, or even just the city. He believes regional leaders, from across St. Louis County and the Metro East, need to work together to establish activities and events for youths on weekends.
One ambassador, Carole Dent, a former police officer and currently a parole officer for the Department of Corrections, says some “terrible” incidents have overshadowed the downtown experience. Dent says a small group of “bad actors” is usually at the center of trouble, with most other teens just running around scared. But she added that she has just as many good memories as bad, recalling teens taking prom pictures downtown in the spring. “You can’t stop everything,” she said. “You don’t know how much we’ve stopped either.”
Short-term renters fired up to 100 shots at each other Wednesday morning. Nearly 100 shots were fired during a shootout between short-term renters early Wednesday morning, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Around 1 a.m. in the Downtown West neighborhood, an argument broke out between parties staying on the 1900 block of Washington Avenue and on the 400 block of North 20th Street. Shortly after, a nearby resident told KSDK that they’d heard shots similar to “machine fire” for two to three minutes.
Initially, witnesses stated to police that the shooting took place between separate Airbnb renters. They have since clarified their statement to say that the shooting took place between “short-term rentals.” An Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to RFT there are no active or recent reservations at either property on 1920 Washington or 411 N. 20th Street.
Two people were injured, according to the police’s incident report. The police noted that they arrested two suspects and seized “a large quantity” of narcotics and firearms in one of the rental units. This is the most recent incident in a slew of deadly shootings this year at short-term rental units in the downtown area.
In early March, a 16-year-old was shot and killed in the Ely Walker Lofts. A few weeks later, two teenagers were killed at a birthday party at Cupples Station Loft Apartments. Both were thought to happen at short-term rentals.
During the police department’s weekly crime update on Wednesday morning, Lieutenant Angela Dickerson said she doesn’t believe there’s an “ongoing problem” with violence in downtown-area short-term rental units. Police spokeswoman Evita Caldwell said the violence stems from a few “bad actors” who are “doing things they aren’t supposed to do or doing things they are not disclosing to [short-term rental] owners.”
In March, LaShana Lewis, chair of the St. Louis Downtown Neighborhood Association, told KMOV that the area was looking into restrictions on downtown rentals. “Given recent events … people seem to be now making sure that we have some sort of wrap-around [for] requirements for having [short-term rentals], especially in downtown,” Lewis said.
This story has been updated to remove all references to Airbnb on July 21 at 11:57 a.m.
Police: 100 shots fired in Downtown West neighborhood, 2 injured
One resident said the shots sounded like a machine gun and lasted for as long as two or three minutes.
Author: Alex Fees (KSDK), Elyse Schoenig
Published: 8:07 AM CDT July 20, 2022
Updated: 5:40 PM CDT July 20, 2022
ST. LOUIS — Dozens of shots were fired in St. Louis’ Downtown West neighborhood early Wednesday morning. One resident said the shots sounded like a machine gun and lasted for as long as two or three minutes.
Police said the shootings happened at around 12:30 a.m. near 20th Street and Washington Avenue. Police said their mobile reserve units reported hearing “a hundred” gunshots. Officers believe there were groups at separate parties involved and people were feuding and shooting at each other.
Police said a 20-year-old woman was found in the area of 20th Street and Washington Avenue. Police said she was a passenger in a car that was hit by gunfire near the scene of the shooting. She was taken to the hospital for treatment. The driver was not injured.
Officers found another victim with a gunshot wound to his foot. He was also taken to a hospital for treatment. Police said he was also one of the suspects in the shooting.
5 On Your Side spoke to several people in the area who say they’re at the point of wanting to move out. “This honestly has to stop,” area business owner Nicole Jenkins said. “I grew up in the City of St. Louis and I’ve never seen it like this.” Jenkins’s concerns were echoed by many of the other area business owners. “It’s disheartening because you want your customers to feel safe,” Ashanti Moorehead said. Jenkins said she wants more action, like increased police presence, and more surveillance. “I think there needs to be officers on feet for what needs to take place and occur here,” Jenkins said. At the end of the day, she said her passion is serving her clients. She said if her safety and theirs are at risk, it’s time to take her passion and move it somewhere else.
“I caution the investigation is very preliminary at this juncture,” said St. Louis Police Lt. Mathew Karnoski. “There were two groups of individuals shooting at each other. We are in the midst of recovering dozens and dozens of shell casings and so far, we have recovered three firearms and arrested two people.”
Police said witnesses said the parties were hosted at Airbnb rentals.
A spokesperson for Airbnb noted there were no active listings or reservations at either property.
Karknoski said two handguns were recovered at the scene. “One has been outfitted with a device to make it a fully automatic weapon, and we’ve also recovered a 223 AR-style pistol,” he said.
Police also seized a “large quantity” of suspected narcotics from the scene.
Downtown resident Dale Carney lives at the intersection. “I was almost asleep and heard the gunfire,” said Carney. “I basically dove under the bed. I called 911 right away and got through in a second, luckily. I told the lady 20th and Washington, gunfire. Lots of gunfire. When I was talking to them, it was still going off, so I’m sure they probably heard it over my phone.”
There are literally 13 people aressted for our incident, ages ranging from 16 to 47!
Here’s some pictures where I marked where we were (mostly circles) in relation to where the most major shooting occured (the line on the sidewalk 4′ under our window and the x’s and *):
And I think the spaces between demographics and heading of “State of Missouri” in that police report means an officer (“special victim”) might have been involved.
From what I saw, it was probably cross fire, because the police were not close during the actual altercation. I think it would be plausible that one of the gunmen with his back to our loft, and shooting across our parking lot an another young person (also armed and shooting) may have clipped a police car or something like that.
The “x” are where police cars finally came to, after the shooting was mostly over. Maybe 1-3 shots happened after I saw police.
This is how Saint Louis news described our gun fight involving 13 people and possibly an officer:
It’s weird that a whole-ass, multi-person gun fight is being framed as cars being shot??! The one article (the ONLY one that talks specifically of the gun fight we witnessed) directly addressing 7-13 people shooting automatic weapons was reduced to ballistic damage on 15 cars. It is hardly accurate or reflective of what actually went on–and nobody cared to gather information or report what actually occurred.
I’ll post the Reddit chain about our gun fight in a different entry.
Downtown violence, 12-hour shifts, dwindling roster stressing St. Louis police
Some commanders have shared their feelings about the current state of affairs in memos obtained by 5 On Your Side.
Author: Christine Byers (KSDK)
Published: 5:56 PM CDT August 1, 2022
Updated: 6:26 PM CDT August 1, 2022
ST. LOUIS — Hundreds of shots fired, two innocent people caught in the crossfire, bullet holes in multiple cars and buildings downtown this past weekend.
All of it comes at a time when the city is forcing officers to work 12-hour overtime shifts, which have led to impassioned memos from commanders scrambling to fill cars as the police union estimates 102 officers have left the force so far this year.
Mayor Tishaura Jones stood with Maj. Renee Kriesmann during a weekly downtown safety briefing Monday, and cited a December 2020 study paid for by the Regional Business Commission when asked what her plan is to retain and recruit officers.
“(The study) showed St. Louis actually has enough officers, they just need to deploy them in the right way,” Jones said. “And so we have been looking at our deployment strategies, along with the Center for Policing Equity, to make sure that we can deploy our officers in a smarter way and also making sure that we’re deploying our alternative responses. “So we have Cops and Clinicians, we have a diversion program that takes a little bit of that burden off of officers responding to every call.” She also said St. Louis isn’t alone in its struggle to find officers, which she found out while attending an event sponsored by the National League of Cities. “There wasn’t one mayor at the table who also isn’t experiencing an officer shortage,” she said. “So it was not just St. Louis, it’s Tacoma, Washington, it’s Jackson, Mississippi, it’s Union, Georgia, it’s Savannah, Georgia, it’s Montgomery, Alabama. “These are all cities, including more that are experiencing an officer shortage in the midst of a nationwide labor shortage.” Maj. Renee Kriesmann outlined the weekend’s violence, and added: “It’s not a big secret that we are short some officers, however, what we’re trying to do is use the officers that we have to keep them visible.”
Internally, some commanders have shared their feelings about the current state of affairs in memos obtained by 5 On Your Side.
On July 13, Lieutenant Michael McAteer wrote to the Technological Solutions & Investigations staff, letting them know he would be calling on as many as 10 of them to return to the streets. The unit typically works at headquarters on technology-based policing at the Real Time Crime Center, monitoring cameras during incidents, ShotSpotter calls and other intelligence-based investigations. “I am afraid that I must ask your help in making some extremely difficult decisions as we move forward,” he wrote. “As a good supervisor, I am sure each of you has paid attention to the agency’s staffing crisis, and have anticipated the potential impact this might eventually have upon our division. What comes next cannot be of any great surprise at this point.”
He told his staff he met with Interim Chief Michael Sack during the first week in July.
“He was quite candid in sharing staffing issues: 124 officers removed from the manning table last year; down another 140 officers from there, minus another 75 on various forms of long-term leave/sick/limited duty. Altogether, it can be safely estimated approximately 340 fewer cops than the Department fielded just seven years ago. Sadly, I cannot say that we have reached bottom. As other agencies step up their recruitment efforts and fill their vacancies, it is only common sense that they would seek out seasoned officers from the St. Louis Police Department. Unfortunately, even with mandatory staffing requirements, the districts continue to struggle with properly staffing patrol vehicles. In essence, this staffing issue has now become an officer safety concern.” He assured his officers he argued to keep the staffing level in the Intelligence Unit as is, arguing the unit provides a high-tech approach to crime strategies, moving officers out of the unit will cost the department specialized training and experience and the unit’s stats speak for themselves. “While these arguments have prevailed in helping us avoid cuts in past situations, the scope of the department’s existing crisis most certainly overpowers everything,” he wrote.
Sack wrote to a memo to sergeants and officers Friday, in which he talked about crime summaries officers read every day. “What they don’t contain is equally important. That is, they don’t note the efforts each of you takes to serve. Incidents seem to pile up, one upon another. Call, followed by call, followed by report writing, maybe a booking and an email to the (Circuit Attorney’s Office) mailbox. Each day you come to work and go through your shift. Some shifts may seem like a repeat of the previous day. I know this is difficult for you. I know the 12-hour shifts are a strain – not only on you, but your families as well. We watch each week as our officer-peers leave for other agencies or retire. We encounter challenging situations and endure it all with professionalism and compassion. Our Department is not unlike others. Other agencies struggle to retain and attract officers. While we may not be able to control retention, we can control our response to the challenges we face each day. This is a difficult time for law enforcement. Please know that I appreciate your efforts and that what you do makes a difference in the lives of many in our community…I humbly ask you to continue to carry on as best you can, to work hard and do the right thing. The community is counting on each of us. Please keep focused on your service and perform your duties proudly and safely. Thank you for what you have done, and what you will continue to do as we serve in this challenging time.”
Barely more than 24 hours after that memo went out, officers at Central Patrol reported hearing about 100 gunshots just past 2 a.m. Saturday. Calls then came into 911 soon after reporting shots fired near the Architect Stunning Lofts in the 700 block of N. 21st Street. There, police found 15 cars damaged by gunfire and 50 shell casings.
A few hours later, two people were dropped off at a hospital with gunshot wounds, and police believe they were involved in the shooting.
At 3:14 a.m. Sunday, a 78-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man were struck by gunfire in the 1300 block of Convention. Both survived their injuries, but police found 100 shell casings at the scene along with nine apartment windows and five cars damaged by gunfire.
Police also reported between 200 to 300 juveniles congregated in and around a new event space called The Den in the 1300 block of Convention around that time.
When asked whether the 12-hour mandatory overtime shifts may continue in the fall months, she said department leaders evaluate that question every week. So do the officers.
Teen shot, killed inside transit station on Monday in St. Louis
“It’s just so scary to think that this happened inside a bus and train station where so many people were,” said a woman whose brother tried to buy a ticket.
Author: Robert Townsend
Published: 5:30 AM CDT August 2, 2022
Updated: 5:30 AM CDT August 2, 2022
ST. LOUIS — “It’s scary to think that this would happen in a station like this where it’s really business,” said a concerned woman, who asked that her identity be released.
Witnesses told police in mid-afternoon Monday a mask and hoodie-wearing, young guy stormed through the front entrance at the St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center at south 15th and Poplar Streets near Enterprise Center. Within moments witnesses said the gunman shot a teenage boy in his head and killed him.
Police say the boy was sitting in the lobby.
“It was just so crazy. We saw the young man’s body just lying there on the floor. That could have been one of my family members. It’s just sickening,” the woman told 5 On Your Side’s Robert Townsend.
Multiple police officers rushed to the scene, put up crime scene tape and started talking to witnesses. The station was packed with dozens of travelers at the time. The woman, who spoke with 5 On Your Side, says her brother was trying to buy a train ticket just minutes before. She asked that her name not be revealed. “The witnesses said the young man who was murdered was sitting in a seat in the lobby. The guy came in the building, stood behind him and said ‘what’s up now,’ pulled a revolver out of his pants and shot him” said the woman.
Greyhound and Amtrak operate out of the station. Customers say ticket counters for both companies temporarily shut down after the deadly shooting.
It happened after a violent weekend in St. Louis.
Police say early Saturday morning two innocent people were caught in the crossfire when hundreds of gunshots were fired near north 21st Street.
Back at the St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center a frustrated Jhordy Sanchez couldn’t buy a bus ticket to Columbia. “I’m just going to go to the airport and catch a shuttle bus. This is such a big inconvenience It’s bad publicity for Greyhound and bad publicity for St. Louis,” said Sanchez.
Nobody else was hurt. Police quickly took a teenager into custody thanks to eagle-eyed witnesses. “These people were very helpful that when they saw that, they remembered and provided us with a lot of information,” said Major Ryan Cousins with the Metropolitan St. Louis Police Department.
However, that’s little comfort for this weary woman. “I’m tired of the violence and I’m ready to get my family out of town and move,” she said.
Hours after the shooting, both Greyhound and Amtrak were once again selling tickets and running again.
ST. LOUIS — Downtown business leaders want City Hall to spend more money making the area safer. And they say if that doesn’t happen, the whole city could suffer.
Officials with Greater St. Louis Inc., the region’s business development organization, said Thursday they want city leaders to use part of an unprecedented haul of federal aid to put up more surveillance cameras, upgrade street lights and take steps to slow down traffic on roads like Fourth Street, Broadway and Tucker Boulevard.
The request follows more than a year of problems with high-profile shootings, drag racing and late-night mayhem that has at times fostered a sense of lawlessness in the heart of the region. Residents have complained they can’t sleep at night. Some business owners have worried the bad headlines will scare clientele away, and others have considered relocating themselves.
“A catalytic infrastructure investment from our city government is critical to restoring confidence,” said Jason Hall, Greater St. Louis Inc.’s CEO.
A spokesman for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones was noncommittal Thursday. “We will absolutely take a look at their recommendations,” said the spokesman, Nick Desideri. “Our administration remains committed to improving public safety in downtown St. Louis.”
The city has worked to dampen downtown troubles: It shut down a troublesome nightspot on Washington Avenue last summer, reassigned more police to the area in the fall, and banned electric scooters in June after reports of roving bands of unsupervised youths. Jones also convened a public safety task force with city officials and business executives to monitor progress downtown and respond to problems.
But on Thursday, some of those same executives were asking for more.
Hall spent the first part of a press conference Thursday talking up downtown’s strengths as a hub for high-income employment and tourism, with a growing residential population and plenty of redevelopment potential. He also noted reasons for optimism: The new MLS stadium. The plan to revive the vacant Butler Brothers building. A tech startup’s announcement Wednesday it’s opening an office on troubled Washington Avenue for more than 200 employees.
But Hall also conceded the pandemic took a hefty toll. The number of jobs downtown has dwindled. Office vacancy rates are up. Sidewalks are crumbling, graffiti is covering buildings and high-voltage wiring is hanging out of light poles, Hall said. “We cannot compete as a global city if we allow this to be our front door,” he said.
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) – Police are investigating after a man was shot near Downtown St. Louis early Monday morning.
The shooting happened near Washington Avenue and North 18th Street at around 3:14 a.m. Police said the man was shot in the chest when they arrived on the scene.
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) – As summer winds down, the City of St. Louis Is facing a growing crime trend in homicides. “Unfortunately, we were slightly ahead of where we were last year,” said Public Safety Director Dr. Dan Isom. The City of St. Louis currently has 129 homicides. At this same time last year, the city recorded 121 homicides. The last four happened on Sunday night in a span of five hours. “Any homicide, any loss of life is distressing, but when it happens in such a short period of time, [it] is certainly cause for concern,” said Isom. “Also, in addition to the fact that we don’t find any connection between the four.” Isom said St. Louis police believe the homicide that happened off Grand and Broadway was the result of an altercation between several people, and police have some potential leads on who the suspects could be.
During Monday’s downtown public safety briefing, Isom addressed questions as to why St. Louis is experiencing an uptick in violent crime, he attributed it to several factors. “One, we’ve had a serious explosion in these stolen KIAs and Hyundai’s, which I think offer availability for mobile crimes, and they are being used in certain violent crimes,” said Isom. “This is one issue that has changed and accelerated in the last month or so.” Two, he says it could also be the rise in dangerous weapons on the street. “Meaning guns that can be transitioned to fully automatic. Of course, a gun that is fully automatic is going to be way more lethal than one that’s not,” said Isom. “I think our primary focus right now is enforcement in trying to slow down the violence that’s happening in this community through physical presence, through intelligence, through trying to close these cases as quickly as possible to hold people accountable.”
As of August 20, only 54 percent of homicides have been solved in the City of St. Louis.
“It has been reported that our numbers are down somewhat significantly from last year as well in terms of officers,” said Isom. “However, we have been doing the 12 hour shifts to compensate for that.”
News 4 checked in with the St. Louis Police Officers Association on what they think has contributed to the rise in recent violent crime. President Jay Schroder believes the ongoing shortage of police officers is among the issues that has taken a toll on the community. Right now, he says the department is about 300 positions short. “We’re drastically underpaid compared to departments all around. We used to be one of the better paying departments and now we’re $20,000 dollars behind our people in St. Louis County, so we’re not competitive. We’re not keeping up with the rest of the folks around us,” said Schroder. “It’s going to be a team effort for everyone. it’s going to have to be the police department and the city, they’re going to have to get behind their policemen, to pay their policemen. And they’re going to have to show the guys that ride the streets every day that people actually care.”
Earlier this June, SLMPD institute 12-hour mandatory shifts on the weekends for police across the city to address some of the growing crime trends over the summer, but that policy is expected to end at the end of the month. However, Isom says the city’s focus will still be having police presence in high crime areas. “We will continue to look at personnel and our manpower and try to adjust it to the areas we think will have the most impact,” said Isom. “We have worked officers very hard for the last couple of months working 12-hour shifts, and it certainly has helped, but we have to recognize that we have to give officers a break as well.”
“I’m really hoping that in St. Louis we’re able to say from this point on, we will begin to scale up what works, because we can get out in front of this,” said James Clark, Vice President of Public Safety for the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. Clark tells News 4 that for years he has been saying the solution is prioritizing education and outreach in communities and homes where the crime is taking place. “It starts with the neighborhoods, and it starts with resources in the neighborhood,” said Clark.
Yet, amid violence this past weekend, there was a new symbol of hope on display in the city. A peace sign is now up on display on the wall off 4230 Manchester Avenue in the Grove. Kyle Holbrook, a Miami-based muralist who created the artwork, tells News 4 this is part of an anti-gun violence initiative he started over a year ago. “It’s bringing awareness to the issue, an epidemic that we are in as a city and as a country of gun violence, but it’s not anti-gun,” said Holbrook. St. Louis marks the 42nd city he’s been to in the country to create one of these murals, and he hopes to reach all 50 states by sometime next year. It is especially important to him after losing 46 friends to gun violence over the course of his life. “And the intent is families will know and friends of lost loved ones will know that this is done with their lost loved one in mind,” said Holbrook.
I sent this right after I spoke with 911, the shooting was still happening as I wrote and sent this text:
(13 hours and 39 min after gun fight) I didn’t hear back at all so at 3:39 PM I sent some questions to the landlord.
No response.
Sat, July 30, 11:56 AM (10 hours after gun fight):
I didn’t hear anything back by text. I thought I should get it in more formal writing so I sent the landlord an email detailing the event and asking for an update as well as action:
He never responded to me, personally. So we have no idea what happened, what caused a shooting, if anyone of the shooters lived, or rented an Airbnb at our loft, if the shooters were still around…. We don’t know how good the camera footage was, if it was turned over to police, or even if anyone cared enough to do an investigation.
Wed, Aug 3, 2022 (4 days after the gun fight):
We could see a lot of papers on a door down our hallway. But we weren’t brave enough to go read what they said. As you can see, that door is between 2 other apartments. And it’s past the stairwell, where you don’t need to ever go, as it dead-ends. So if we crept over there someone might see us being nosy and there wouldn’t really be a plausible explanation for being over there.
But the orange color made me think it’s possibly an eviction notice.
Silence from the landlord for 6 days following the gun fight right outside our windows.
Friday, Aug 5, 2022 (6 days after the gun fight):
This is the first we’ve heard from the landlord after a major incident
Same day:
Mon, Aug 8, 2022 (9 days after gun fight):
The voice sounded so angry and possibly violent that she left the full trash bag out in the hallway and went back inside our locked loft!
Thurs, Aug 11, 2022 (12 days after the gun fight):
The landing was full of trash and furniture. It looked like someone cleaned out their apartment. Did one of the shooters live right on our floor? The apartment that had the orange sign on the door was open and maintenance was in there cleaning.
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