ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis man is facing charges after police said he admitted to killing a man Saturday Morning in the scrap yard where he was living.
Charles A. Lay, 46, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and unlawful possession of a weapon after admitting he shot and killed a man that startled.
Police said they were alerted to the shooting when Shot Spotter detected gunfire in the 4800 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in St. Louis. When they went to investigate, they found the scrapyard locked and didn't think anything was wrong.
The next day, a man was in the salvage yard and found the victim, Lionel Anthony Brown, dead.
During the investigation, police found that Lay was related to the man who owned the scrap yard and was allowed to live in a trailer on the property.
Lay told police Brown popped up from behind a stack of tires and startled him Saturday morning. He told police he instinctively shot and killed him.
He also told police he hid of the gun by enclosing it in concrete.
Police said he was charged with felony assault and armed criminal action in 1994, so he was not legally allowed to own a gun.
He is in custody and is being held on $50,000 bail.
