Officials say police are investigating a mass shooting early Sunday morning in St. Louis, Missouri. One person was killed, and nine other people were hurt. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department says that all 10 people who were attacked were between 15 and 19 years old.
At a news conference, St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy said that the killing happened around 1 a.m. on Sunday at the corner of 14th Street and Washington Avenue in the city’s downtown. Officers saw a big group of people running from a building near the intersection. Shortly after that, the police got several calls that someone had been shot on the fifth floor of the building.
1 juvenile killed, 9 other juveniles injured in shooting in St. Louis https://t.co/jfLxdtA6iZ
— Boston 25 News (@boston25) June 18, 2023
A preliminary investigation showed that the shooting happened when a group of young people were having a party on the fifth floor of the building, which is meant to be an office area. When police arrived, they saw 10 young people with what looked like shooting wounds.
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The police chief said that a 17-year-old male was declared dead, and the other nine victims, male and female teenagers as young as 15, had all been shot at least once. Tracy said another 17-year-old girl had “serious injuries” to her spine, probably because she was trampled as she ran down the stairs to get out of the building during the shooting. As of Sunday night, no one knew how the hurt people were doing.
Police found a lot of empty shell casings at the scene. They also found several guns, including AR-style pistols and a handgun, in the hands of a person of interest who was arrested in connection with the crime. The police chief said that the suspect was also a child. Authorities haven’t said what might have caused the attack.