COURTESY ST. LOUIS POLICE
Deshawn Thomas was arrested in connection with a shooting in downtown St. Louis yesterday. Video posted to Twitter seems to capture the horrifying incident.
Police have arrested 23-year-old Deshawn Thomas in connection to a shooting downtown on Monday. A shocking video, allegedly of the shooting, was posted to Twitter Monday night before being removed.
The video seems to show a shooting that occurred in broad daylight at the 700 block of North Tucker Boulevard.
The police said that they received a call for a shooting shortly after 10:10 a.m. on Monday relative to a man in his 40s who was shot in the head. Police said the victim argued with the alleged shooter at a nearby Shell station before the shooting. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Video of the shooting was posted by an account called "Ponzi Slayer," @ponziSTL, who professes to be a U.S. Marine and a gun enthusiast who gives a thumbs down to "Biden/democrats."
His video was then shared by KMOX reporter Kevin Killeen, and subsequently reshared by former KMOV reporter Chris Nagus, before it was taken down by Twitter.
Ponzi Slayer then reposted the video on Twitter, as well as sharing a link to a version that was still live on Facebook as of press time.Warning: this video is disturbing. I am sharing this bc @KMOXKilleen is an extremely credible reporter. This is broad daylight! Have we seen enough? We can’t sugarcoat this any longer. It’s time for STL do some soul searching. Our elected leaders do NOT have a handle on this. https://t.co/eLu7f00ml9
— Chris Nagus (@ChrisNagusTV) February 28, 2023
"Twitter took down this video I posted yesterday so I’ll post it again," he wrote. "Doesn’t show the murder on camera so stop censoring it. Btw 10 am today #kimgardner supporters are gathering downtown. Meanwhile a young girl lays with her legs amputated and crushed pelvis 1 mile away in the hospital from a thug Kim and her cronies let back on the street when he should been in jail. Show Kims pals this 🎥 from yesterday."
Ponzi Slayer wrote on Twitter that the people recording the video heard a gunshot and, after calling police, began filming what was happening on the sidewalk. The video shows two men, one seated on the curb and the other standing near him, while the person filming talks about having heard a gun shot. The standing man is struggling to reload his weapon. The seated man either doesn't notice or seems unconcerned.
After about 30 seconds, the man with the gun abruptly holds his arm out, puts the gun to the seated man's head and fires.
"Oh my god. He just fucking killed him," says the individual filming the incident.
The terrifying video matches the details in an SLMPD incident report, and Crab's Landing, which is visible in the video, is at 701 North Tucker Boulevard. According to the incident report, after the shooting, the suspect fled on foot and was observed entering the library on Olive Street, where the suspect was taken into custody without incident.
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