WELLSTON, Mo. – It looks like footage straight out of a movie. It’s a shootout that moves into the middle of busy Page Avenue in the middle of the afternoon.
Wellston residents making a simple run to the store found themselves surrounded by gunfire. Investigators are asking for the public’s help to find three of the gunmen from the May 27 shootout.
The incident began with an as-yet-unidentified man walking into the Wellston Market around 2:30 p.m. open-carrying an AR-15 rifle. Despite being armed, he’s about to be the victim of a robbery.
He walks up to a cellphone kiosk where another man notices the rifle. In the video, you can see the second person peak around the corner to get a good look. He then walks outside and prepares to steal the man’s AR-15.
Outside, the robber puts a gun to the back of the head of the man with the rifle. The robber gets him to hand the rifle over. The victim grabs another gun from his own vehicle and begins shooting.
Two other people, who appear to be with the victim, join in the shootout.
“You can see the fear in the bystanders’ eyes,” said Major Ron Martin, North County Police Cooperative. “In the process, a young lady was shot in the stomach. She’s going to survive. A vehicle was shot to pieces.
“There’s a lot going on in this incident and if we have people help us maybe identify a few of these individuals, we can speak with them and piece it all together.”
Police eventually identified the robber and the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office charged 31-year-old Bobby Booker.
The three other shooters remain a mystery. They were inside a white Ford Focus. During the incident, they boldly parked in the middle of Page and remained there for about another minute as they apparently tried hunting the robber.
Martin described them as, “…very comfortable, just sitting in the middle of Page Avenue, firing guns from the car and their associates firing guns behind cars. They’re really comfortable; like they weren’t worried about the police. They weren’t worried about anything.”
Police want details about that white Ford and anybody who may be associated with that vehicle. They also believe there were hints about the shooters from the colorful jackets they were wearing.
“Maybe there’s somebody out there in your viewing audience who will know who these individuals that were involved, because we really want to talk to them,” Martin said. “There’s a lot of unanswered questions.”
You can leave an anonymous tip with the North County Police Cooperative Bureau of Criminal Investigations online or contact the department on its Facebook page.
