http://home.postdispatch.com/channel/pdweb.nsf/TodayThursday/86256A0E0068FE5086256C39003BEF0A?OpenDocument
September 19, 2002.
Victim wrenches shotgun from carjacker
By Jeremy Kohler
Of The Post-Dispatch
Michele Munz Of The Post-Dispatch Contributed To This Report.

He tossed them his wallet.

He told four angry-looking young men that they could take what they
wanted: his 1996 GMC Yukon, parked in the 3600 block of Winnebago Street
in St. Louis just after 1 a.m. Wednesday.
“I say, ‘Yo, dog, you all can have this,’” the robbery victim, 25,
explained later.

But he heard one of the robbers, holding a shotgun, ask his buddies,
“Yo, what you want me to do with this guy?”

The guy said kill him.

The victim, who agreed to be interviewed without use of his name, said
his mind raced. He thought of his 6-year-old son growing up without a
father. He figured he had about one second to live.

He used that second, he told police, to grab the shotgun and push the
man holding it into another carrying a Tec-9 assault weapon. The second
robber tried to fire but the gun failed.

The victim said he ran behind his Yukon. The robbers taunted him. No
shells in that shotgun, they said. They lied. He fired three blasts, and
they scattered.

By now they were too far to hit with a shotgun. But he had more
firepower: a 9mm handgun he says he carries for protection.

He pumped off four shots in rapid succession — aiming high to miss, he
said. The robbers piled into the car they’d pulled up in, an Oldsmobile
Alero, and sped west on Winnebago.

“They wanted to murder me,” the victim said Wednesday. “After I did what
they asked me to do. I’m glad to be alive. I’m glad to still be here. To
see my son.”

Residents of the block called police and described the Alero, which had
been stolen from Lambert Field. St. Louis police chased it south on
Interstate 55 into Jefferson County, radioing ahead for help.

Festus police were ready. As the speeding car approached the exit for
southbound Highway 67, officers tossed a strip of hollow spikes onto the
pavement. The car slowed to a stop near Jefferson Memorial Hospital as
the tires went flat.

The four men scattered.

One was caught near the hospital in Crystal City. Another was caught at
a 7-Eleven store in Festus. Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies nabbed
the other two on the highway.

Later Wednesday, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce charged two
adults from St. Louis with first-degree attempted robbery, armed
criminal action and felony resisting by flight. They are Bryon Jones,
26, of the 7400 block of Calvin Avenue and Branden Jones, 17, of the
4000 block of Connecticut Street. The Joneses are unrelated.

The status of the two minors could not be determined.

Police confirmed the victim’s account.

Investigators recovered the assault weapon, which police said the
suspects tossed out the window during the chase, and a .38-caliber
revolver found in the Alero. They were still searching for a .22-caliber
pistol the suspects said they also discarded.

Police Chief Joe Mokwa said Wednesday that the city has seen 98 cases of
auto theft involving a gun over the past six months.
“There have been enough episodes of violence that they get people’s
attention,” he said.

Among them:

* A man fatally shot by an off-duty city detective in thwarting what
police are calling an attempted carjacking Friday night.

* A man from Indianapolis killed when carjackers opened fire just south
of downtown last month.

* A former Marine who had just joined the Border Patrol killed in May
for his Lexus coupe when his attempt to escape got blocked on a dead-end
street.

Police generally advise victims to do follow carjackers’ instructions.
St. Louis County police
Officer Mason Keller pointed to two recent cases in the Affton area that
ended peacefully that way.

“You have to do what you feel is best for the situation to keep you and
your family and friends safe,” Keller said. “You just have to pick the
best option out of whatever options are available to you.”

Mokwa said most carjackers are usually groups of young men wanting cars
for their accessories, such as expensive tires. They do not intend to
kill, he said, but most are armed and unpredictable.

“They are not thoughtful enough to think of what their behavior might
accelerate into,” he said. “And they have no remorse if they do have to
shoot.”

Wednesday morning’s victim was no easy target. He is a former college
football linebacker, weighing 245 pounds, who is a workout enthusiast
and carries a weapon because he runs a liquor store with his father and
often transports cash.

“Now every time I come outside I have to fear for myself,” he lamented.
“I don’t know how to live or carry my life well. I can’t buy nice things
because someone might try to take it from me.”

He added, “I’m going to do everything I can to help the prosecutors so
those guys never do this to anyone else.”

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