ST. LOUIS — Downtown St. Louis residents and nearby employees expressed their concern over the brazen crime. The latest downtown shooting left a man dealing with homelessness dead.
"He was a nice, quiet individual. He kept to himself," said one worker at Shell gas station.
For the past two years, the woman has worked at the gas station near Tucker Boulevard and Convention Plaza.
She has fond memories of David Saldana, the man shot in the head and killed in a shooting Monday afternoon.
"He would come in and then he'd go a couple of days without coming in and then he'd come back and get his little snacks," said the worker.
"He became one of the regulars around here," she added.
Sadly, not anymore.
Witnesses say a bystander caught the callous crime on camera with his cellphone.
They say around 10 Monday morning, as people walked and drove down Tucker, shooting suspect, Deshawn Thomas spent about 30 seconds trying to load a gun.
Within seconds, witnesses told police Thomas shot David Saldana in his head "execution-style."
Police say the 23-year-old Thomas ran off before officers got to the scene.
"He was harmless," said one downtown resident.
"I saw the victim. He was sitting there on the ground with his hands up," the resident said.
"It's sad because like I said I never saw David mess with anybody. He never had words with anybody. He was a sweet individual," said the gas station employee.
Police learned prior to the shooting the two men had a fight.
A probable cause statement revealed Thomas first followed Saldana across the street and shot him in his back multiple times, "As the man begged for his life."
Police arrested Thomas at a library on nearby Olive Street. They also say they recovered a gun and shell casings on him.
The deadly shooting happened just blocks away from city hall and popular Washington Avenue.
"It's not what people say it is down here. Everybody is trying to make it out to be bad or this or that and it's not," said the downtown resident.
But records show there have been seven shootings downtown in the past three weeks.
"Everybody turns to guns, and you don't need to turn to guns. If you can't talk about it, just leave it alone. I saw David the night before he was killed and again it's just so sad," the gas station worker said.
"Everybody has a family that's going to miss them when something like this happens. The police cannot sit here and watch everything that goes on. It's everybody as a community needs to work together," said the worker said.
5 On Your Side's Robert Townsend called and e-mailed several city leaders for their reaction to the deadly shooting.
They were tight-lipped for hours.
Shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday, a spokesman for Mayor Tishaura Jones sent a statement saying:
Mayor Jones is appalled by the blatant act of violence committed in broad daylight against an unhoused man on Monday morning. She appreciates the rapid response from the St. Louis Police Department to apprehend a suspect, and remains committed to bringing together law enforcement, judicial partners, and community organizations to tackle the root causes of crime while holding accountable those who commit it.
5 On Your Side's Robert Townsend also reached out to the Metropolitan St. Louis Police Department hoping to speak with Chief Robert Tracy; however, as of Tuesday night, he did not hear back.