By Kim Bell
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Police Chief Robert Tracy was leaving the funeral of Officer David Lee on Saturday when the city’s Crime Center broadcast the license plate of a vehicle involved in a recent carjacking.
As circumstance would have it, the suspect’s vehicle was in front of Tracy, in traffic. Within minutes, the chief, in full-dress uniform, detained a man and woman from the car at gunpoint until arresting officers could arrive.
“I may have been at the right place at the right time, but make no mistake: The brave men and women of SLMPD do this type of work every single day,” Tracy said.
The man is a suspect in a Friday night carjacking, said Mitch McCoy, a police spokesperson. The woman was not involved, McCoy said. The St. Louis circuit attorney’s office declined to immediately press charges against the man, pending more information. Police are searching for additional suspects and expect to seek warrants again.
“We will continue to work with the circuit attorney’s office related to that suspect as we identify and arrest others,” McCoy said.
The carjacking was at a Mobil gas station, 3710 North Grand Boulevard, at 9:45 p.m. Friday. The 26-year-old victim told police he was inside his 2011 Chevrolet Equinox at the gas pump when a gunman got into his passenger seat. The gunman hit the car’s owner in the head with the gun and demanded the keys, police said. The gunman got the keys but left without the car.
The carjacking victim told police another gunman, possibly a boy, showed up and ordered him out of the car. The suspect ordered him to get out. He did, but he held onto the back of his car as they dragged him across the gas station lot, police said.
A minivan on Grand drove by, and someone in the minivan began shooting at the Equinox owner, police said. He let go of his vehicle and fell to the ground. Police said he was not hit by gunfire.
The Equinox and minivan were last seen Friday night heading west on Natural Bridge Avenue . McCoy said the car that Tracy stopped wasn’t either the Equinox or the minivan but a sedan also suspected of being a part of the crime.
Tracy, who was in an unmarked police SUV with a sergeant, spotted the suspect vehicle about 3:30 p.m. Saturday. They were leaving Lee’s funeral and were on their way to a funeral reception.
The police department’s Real Time Crime Center had just broadcast a license plate from a getaway car in the robbery and carjacking from the night before. Tracy and the sergeant spotted the car in front of them on the street, McCoy said.
The silver sedan pulled into a parking space, and the police SUV followed. The police vehicle didn’t use lights or sirens to get the car to pull over, McCoy said.
A nearby surveillance camera showed Tracy in a parking lot at Union and Delmar Boulevard walking up behind a silver sedan with his arm pointing at the car, according to an image the police department released Monday. McCoy said the chief drew his gun during the traffic stop.
Tracy and the sergeant held the couple until other officers arrived to take the man to the Central Patrol division for questioning.
McCoy said the man admitted being one of the people involved in the robbery and carjacking. Later Saturday, officers found a second vehicle they believe was involved in the crimes. That vehicle had a firearm inside, McCoy added.
Tracy has been St. Louis police chief since January 2023.
Downtown residents grill police chief on recent crime
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