Bellefontaine Neighbors, MO – A gunman shot two suburban St. Louis police officers in the chest during a standoff Thursday, but their bulletproof vests apparently saved them from serious injury.
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The shooting happened before 8 a.m. in the city of Bellefontaine Neighbors.
A witness, Steve Jones, told reporters that the officers were trying to reason with the man when they suddenly tackled him on a lawn. He said the officers used pepper spray on him when the man started to stand up, and that the man then shot the officers from about 15 feet away. He then ran down the street and barricaded himself in a house, where police were trying to negotiate his surrender.
Bellefontaine Neighbors Mayor Bob Doerr told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that both officers were conscious and talking after the shooting and are going to be OK. He said one is a male sergeant and the other is a female patrol officer.
“They were wearing their bulletproof vests, so thank God,” Doerr said. Both were struck by at least one bullet, he said. The vests were purchased for officers about a year ago.
He did not know what led to the shooting.
Now all they need is bulletproof hats.
My bro Munch says shooting is always wrong unless it’s in defense of yourself or others, in which case it’s still wrong but a necessary wrong.
Bellefontaine Neighbors is another of those tiny mostly-White suburb towns of Saint Louis County that insist on having their own police departments. Much like nearby Ferguson, they run the department largely on the fines they can impose on poor people. I am glad nobody was hurt. The area needs a better, more-professional police department.
You may amend my previous post! I was wrong, this town is 75% Black. Shows you I do not know SLC as well as I thought.