ST. LOUIS — Two people were shot Saturday night outside a north St. Louis bar that's been the site of several violent crimes in the past few years, police said.
St. Louis police responded at about 5:45 p.m. to a call for a shooting at North Vandeventer Avenue and St. Louis Avenue in the city's Jeff Vanderlou neighborhood.
When officers arrived, they found a woman had been shot outside the Midtown Bar and Grill. She was pronounced dead at the the scene. Police erected a small, temporary tent to shield her body while detectives conducted their investigation.
A man was also shot, police said. He was taken by ambulance to a St. Louis hospital. His condition was not immediately known.
There were two cars riddled with bullet holes near where the shootings happened—a light blue car across from the bar on North Vandeventer Avenue and a gray car on North Vandeventer Avenue north of St. Louis Avenue.
St. Louis police did not release any information on the circumstances surrounding the shootings or information on a suspect.
In an apparently unrelated shooting, an 18-year-old man was shot in the back on the 2900 block of North Newstead Ave., about a mile east, around 6:45 p.m. A friend drove him to the double shooting scene, where he was taken by ambulance to a St. Louis hospital.
Several people have been victims of violent crimes at or near Midtown Bar and Grill since 2020.
In March 2020, three men in their 20s and 30s who were part of a large group leaving the bar were injured in a shooting. The men were taken to a St. Louis hospital for treatment of their injuries.
A 47-year-old woman suffered an injury to her leg when she was trampled by a crowd of people running from the scene, police said. She was also taken to a St. Louis hospital.
Vehicles parked nearby also sustained damage from the gunfire.
Police said "despite a large crowd both before and after the incident, officers received no witness participation."
And in July 2021, police found a car that had driven on the sidewalk, coming to rest outside the bar. Alberto Winfield was inside the car.
Winfield, 38, of Symsonia, Kentucky, was shot several times by a man who was seen running from the scene with an "assault-style" rifle, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At least three other people have been shot—two fatally—and one person has been stabbed on the 2800 block of North Vandeventer Avenue, the same block as the bar, and at least eight people have been carjacked or robbed in the past two years.
The bar was also shut down by the St. Louis health department for one year in January 2021 for not enforcing health orders meant to slow the spread of COVID-19.
