ST. LOUIS, Mo. – There have been 192 homicides in the City of St. Louis this year. That’s already more than all of last year. The latest shootings were on the same block, 48 hours apart.
“I mean, we used to have our school picnics here,” remembered Allen Woolverton, a native of the Dutchtown and Cherokee neighborhoods. “They would march up and down the streets and we don’t have nothing anymore around here."
Woolverton said even with his pit bull, he doesn’t feel safe walking alone.
"I come out and I see drugs being sold on the streets every day,” Woolverton said.
Within the last two days, there have been two shootings on South Spring Avenue at Itaska Street.
On Friday, a food delivery driver was pistol whipped and robbed. The driver feared for his life and shot and killed one of the suspects, while the second suspect ran away.
The latest shooting involved two men outside of an apartment building. One was shot and killed, the other taken to the hospital.
"My mom called me in a little panic attack saying that two people had been shot over in this area,” said Vee Burks, who came by to check on her mom who lives a block south from the latest crime scene.
“She lives over here on the first floor. We're really kind of scared of bullets flying. They have no aim. So, it’s a big concern,” said Burks fearing for her mother's safety.
Woolverton said gunshots are not an uncommon sound in the area.
“You'll hear it, pow, pow, pow every night," he said.
Woolverton has been thinking about moving out of the area for years. He said he’s decided now is the time.
“We're getting out,” he said, “We're moving come spring, it's time to go."
According to the latest crime statistics, Dutchtown has had a considerable drop in vehicle thefts and burglaries. Aggravated Assault is up 17%, with an additional 35 incidents this year as compared to last year.
Homicides are at five this year, compared to seven this time last year.
Saturday’s shooting brings that number up to six.
