ST. LOUIS — It’s been two years since a St. Louis County health worker was shot and killed while waiting for the Metro Bus, and his brother fears he will never get justice.
Craig Lefebvre took public transportation to and from work every day. He was waiting for his ride home at the South Grand stop when he was shot. Police said he was not the bullet’s intended target.
The shooter, Devin Smith, claimed he was defending himself from a robbery when he fired the gun August 21, 2018.
Smith was a convicted felon – he wasn’t allowed to have a gun. Because of that, he was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, and a judge sentenced him to 5 years in prison. A Department of Corrections spokeswoman told 5 On Your Side he was released early, last November.
“Where's the justice? I really want somebody to honor my brother in a way that shows if you commit violent acts in the city of St. Louis, you'll be held accountable. Devin Smith, in my opinion, certainly wasn't,” Brad Lefebvre, Craig’s brother, said.
Two men, Antreion Betts and Armani McKinley, were charged with second-degree murder in the robbery that led up to the shooting. Court records show McKinley is scheduled for a jury trial in November.
Brad Lefebvre said he worries what will happen if prosecutors can’t prove the case.
“If nobody’s held accountable for this, then frankly, anybody can walk around the city of St. Louis with a gun. They can shoot people and say ‘I was being robbed or there was something else happening to me' and not have any accountability. It’s a very frightening precedent,” he said.
He said what he’ll miss most about his brother is his kindness.
“He was the just that kind of a person that would go above and beyond to help people and to empathize with people and to, frankly, educate himself as to what struggles others were having so that he could better understand them,” he said.
Brad described a time when Craig wanted to learn more about a Muslim coworker, so he researched the religion and fasted with his colleague to “know where he’s coming from.”
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