St. Louis city recorded its first murder of 2009 on Thursday when a North City man heard his car alarm sound and subsequently confronted men near his car in the 2900 block of Lotus.
Terry L. Darris, 42, of the 11200 block of Prentice in Florissant was shot
twice in the back and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Police said
it’s believed that Darris had a confrontation with suspects who may have
been attempting to break into other vehicles in the area.
Witnesses say they heard several gunshots, followed by the sound of car
speeding off. The suspects were described as three black males in a black
two-door car. An investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is
asked to contact Crimestoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS.
The murder comes just one day before city police chief Dan Isom announced
formation of the Violent Offenders Unit (VOU), a collaboration to
aggressively investigate, arrest and prosecute the most dangerous criminals
in our community.
In the collaboration, the police is teaming with federal agencies and
federal, state and prosecutors to the unit.
VOU is staffed by 14 metro area police, eight agents from DEA, six agents
from ATF, and three agents from the FBI. The unit will focus on suspects who
have either been previously arrested for murder, repeatedly arrested for
committing violent crimes with weapons, arresting for committing violent
crime while on probation or parole or who have multiple felony convictions.