A video appeared to show a St. Louis man casually shooting a homeless man in the street in broad daylight on Tuesday, leading to his arrest.
Deshawn Thomas, 23, was detained in connection with the murder on Monday, but no charges have been filed, according to police.
https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1630593519386767360
A bystander video that was posted online shows Thomas struggling to load his gun while standing directly behind the homeless man who is sitting on the curb just a few feet away.
The unidentified victim raised his arms briefly, but otherwise did not make an effort to flee and appeared to be almost resigned to his fate, according to the video. He then appears to fire at the victim.
“Oh my God. He just f–king killed him,” the witness can be heard saying.
The shooting happened in the heart of downtown St. Louis around 10 a.m. Monday, police said.
“Any homicide is unnerving,” Major Ryan Cousins told the St. Louis Dispatch at the scene, “but for this one to happen here, at this time, very much so.”
The victim, whose identity has not been made public, had just moments earlier fought off Thomas at a Shell gas station. Police claim that Thomas chased the man across the street before shooting him.
The victim was reportedly in his 40s, according to cousins, who gave no other information about him.
Due to the graphic content of the video, it was removed from Twitter.
“Twitter took down this video I posted yesterday so I’ll post it again,” the person who posted the video wrote, according to the Riverfront Times. “Doesn’t show the murder on camera so stop censoring it.”
Thomas fled, but was apprehended by police at a nearby library.
On Tuesday, US Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo) retweeted the video and demanded the ousted circuit attorney of St. Louis step down.
Kim Gardner has to leave. Charge and punish the offenders,” the Republican lawmaker urged.
Before the video of the murder on Monday went public, Gardner had already come under fire after a teenage girl lost her legs earlier this month after being hit by a driver who was facing felony robbery charges and had repeatedly broken the terms of his bail.
In an effort to remove Gardner from her position, Missouri Republicans recently filed court documents and demanded that the state take over the prosecution of violent crimes in place of Gardner.
