Screengrab via Facebook
Footage captured by Derk Brown shows bystanders running from gunfire.
This past weekend was a violent one. Out of several shootings (we counted 11), one incident downtown Sunday night caused no injuries, though a video captured by radio personality Derk Brown shows striking footage of bystanders running from gunfire. Many appear young.
At least a dozen teenagers began to frantically run from an area near the intersection of Eighth and Pine right before Brown's video captured the sound of nine gunshots.
Bystanders hid behind cars and ran around the block to hide as police yelled to take cover. Brown livestreamed the whole scene on Facebook.
In a post the following day, Brown estimated over 200 teens were downtown “fighting, blocking traffic and just walking in circles from block to block.”
Police received multiple calls about juveniles congregated in Kiener Plaza Sunday night, according to City of St. Louis Interim Public Safety Director Dan Isom. No one was injured after a shooting at the intersection of Ninth and Pine — the scene of Brown’s video.
The shooting occurred around the end of the Cardinals’ game against the San Francisco Giants. Fans in Cardinals T-shirts were seen in Brown’s video roaming the streets.
Isom said Monday that police detectives had video footage of the gunman but had yet to make an arrest. Isom advised parents not to drop their kids off downtown unsupervised.
The St. Louis Police Officers Association countered Isom in a tweet Monday.
“Shooting indiscriminately is not harmless teenage fun, contrary to the public Safety Director’s characterization of events Sunday night. What is not on video is the fact that gun fire was also directed at responding police officers.”
In total, gun violence in St. Louis this weekend killed five people and wounded eight more.
