ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis man was convicted Thursday for shooting and killing a woman who accidentally sideswiped his car in 2022.

According to a spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the shooting happened around 12:20 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2022, in the 8500 block of Church Drive in the Baden neighborhood.

Officers found Lekeisha Stokes suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including one to her head. She was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Stokes was 39.

Police said Stokes had just dropped off a friend and was returning home from a karaoke event. She drove her vehicle, a Kia, through an intersection, weaved, and sideswiped a Jaguar and then hit the car in front of it.

The owner of the Jaguar, Douglas Shelton-Herron, was sitting in the vehicle with four friends. The group was smoking marijuana at the time of the crash.

Following the crash, Shelton-Herron jumped out of the Jaguar and fired 12 shots at the Kia with what prosecutors described as “an assault weapon.” Two others in the car also fired several shots at the Kia with 9mm handguns while running away from the crash scene.

The entire shooting was caught on police surveillance cameras.

“A group of high, trigger-happy young men brought an innocent woman’s life to a senseless
end,” Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore said.

Shelton-Herron, now 27, was found guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He will be sentenced at a later date.