Last year was a down year for St. Louis’ many murders. After a banner 2008 in which we managed to kill 167 of us, 2009 brought only 143, a full 24 fewer murders, an obvious embarrassment for a city that is considered the nation’s most dangerous. Worst still, 2010 was on pace for even less murders! What happened? Did UMSL starting giving out bullet proof vests to incoming freshmen or are St. Louisan’s finally evolving a natural resistance to bullets, making us in to the super soliders finally achieving the long-standing FBI plan that started when they sprayed the city limits with some sort of angry toxin which goes by the codename of “Bud Ice”?
Good theories, but St. Louis’ murderous hoards don’t agree. Call it midwestern work ethic or just pride in what you do, but there has been a clear uptick in murder attempts starting in early November in a effort to close the murder count gap. Arguments that could have easily been a simple fist fight, muggings and other miscellaneous street encounters are all starting to turn deadly in order to meet their goal. In fact, we are now seeing the first “killing you just because” violence where the perpetrator doesn’t even ask for anything, just just shoots you:
It happened around 4:15 Saturday.
The victim says he was walking on Jefferson when another man approached him with a gun.
He says the gunman shot him in the stomach, but did not demand anything.
The victim is in stable condition, so because the current murder count for 2010 is only at 131 (according to the DailyRFT’s count) the resolve of St. Louis’ murder brigade might only strengthen in the waning days of 2010. Be careful out there! You can’t really enjoy the victorious 2011 if you happen to be one of the…um…”stepping stones” to the murder title. Still though, good to see a whole city come together for a single goal:
via KMOV