STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. — A man who shot a married couple before shooting himself in the head in Ste. Genevieve was charged on Saturday.
Editor's note: The above video is from Friday, Dec. 1
Brian Wipfler, 33, of Ste. Genevieve, was charged Saturday with two counts each of first-degree domestic assault, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.
No bond has been set as of Saturday afternoon.
Ste. Genevieve police said the shooting happened around 10 a.m. at a home on the 400 block of Market Street. Two men, one of whom police said was Wipfler, were taken to a St. Louis area hospital.
Police revealed Wipfler had a gunshot wound to the head and is expected to survive.
The 41-year-old male victim had a gunshot wound to the chest and hand, and a 39-year-old woman was shot in the leg. Police said on Saturday that both victim's conditions are unknown.
According to police, the shooting was a "domestic situation" that was isolated inside the home. The victims who had been shot and injured were a married couple.
The male victim's aunt, Tasha Donaby, said her nephew was in surgery for his injuries as of Friday evening.
"Hopefully, my nephew lives through this to tell exactly what happened," she said.
"I don't know what went wrong. All we knew is we got a call that three people had been shot in the house, but I didn't know it was this bad until I got here," she said.
Donaby said her nephew was best friends with Wipfler and they'd lived together for nearly a decade. She said she saw her nephew at his job Thursday and couldn't help but think about the people who knew and loved him as she does.
"He worked at Rhodes Service Station [Rhodes 101 Convivence Station] and everybody knew him in Ste. Genevieve. He graduated from high school, he is a very good kid," his aunt said.
Ste. Genevieve Police Chief Jasen Crump said they took Wipfler into custody Friday but also said the motive remains unclear and unknown.
Ste. Genevieve is a town of just over 4,600 people and slightly more than 60 miles south of St. Louis.
Crump said the shooting was the first one of the year in Ste. Genevieve, and just last year they only had one shooting.
"For us to have any type of shooting, especially with multiple victims, it's something we train for and prepare for. Our guys did a great job and had the scene secured in minutes of being on scene," Crump said.
Crump said his department worked with the Ste. Genevieve Sheriff's Office. The Missouri State Highway Patrol helped process the shooting scene.
The Ste. Genevieve School District released this statement Friday:
"From SG R-II: Students and staff are safe. We were made aware that there was an incident downtown in Ste. Genevieve. We have been in contact with law enforcement, who have the situation under control. Students and employees are not in danger, and SG R-II is not in lockdown or shelter in place."