ST. LOUIS — Police are still searching for gunmen this morning after a double shooting at a north St. Louis gas station left one man dead and a six year old boy critically injured. Police tell FOX 2 that the latest they have on the child is that he remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition after being shot in the abdomen.
The double shooting happened Wednesday night around 11:15 p.m. inside the Convenience Express gas station on North Broadway in the Baden neighborhood of North City.
Police say a mother was inside the store with her six year old son. A 34 year old man was also in the store at the time.
That’s when authorities tell us two gunmen came in and opened fire, hitting the boy and the 34-year-old man, but not the boy’s mother. The boy survived but the man was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
On Thursday afternoon, there was a rolling gun battle outside the store with people in two vehicles shooting at each other. Nobody was hurt in that episode but it certainly shook people up especially in the wake of the double shooting. St. Louis police records show officers have been called to that gas station 59 times in the past year on various issues.
We spoke with the mother of the man who was killed. Despite the business being a hotspot for police activity she does not blame the business for what happened to her son. She is devastated by his loss.
“My son. I lost my son. He’s an excellent father. He’s an excellent father. I hate that my grandkids have to go without him. It isn’t’ the gas station’s fault. It’s the people who had the guns on the other end’s fault,” said the mother, whose name we are not using.
We reached out to the owner of the gas station but he did not want to comment about what happened. But he did tell us that he too is devastated by the situation.
Police do not have detailed descriptions of the gunmen. If you have any information, police are encouraging you to call Crimestoppers. That number is 866-371-TIPS.
