ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis County police officer who is the son of a former top St. Louis County official is facing 11 felony charges after police say that he fired shots Sunday at a Halloween event for elementary school students in Kirkwood.
Matthew McCulloch, 39, is charged with five counts of armed criminal action, four counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child and one count each of unlawful use of a weapon and first-degree terrorist threat.
On Tuesday, McCulloch was arraigned in a St. Louis County courtroom. His attorney, Brian Millikan, entered a not-guilty plea on McCulloch's behalf.
He remains in custody and will have a bond hearing date on Tuesday, Oct. 24.
McCulloch has been a St. Louis County police officer since 2017 and is also the son of former St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert "Bob" McCulloch. He is also the nephew of St. Charles County Prosecutor Joe McCulloch.
St. Louis County police Chief Kenneth Gregory released a statement Monday—nearly 24 hours after McCulloch's arrest—stating that the officer had been suspended without pay pending an internal investigation. He was off-duty at the time of the incident.
Court documents summarize the incident as follows:
At around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, McCulloch began harassing people during a trunk-or-treat event for Tillman Elementary students on the North Kirkwood Middle School campus. Hundreds of parents and children were there.
McCulloch "aggressively approached" several attendees and made statements such as "You are all going to die," according to the documents. At one point, he threatened a woman whose husband then pushed him in the chest and shoved him to the ground.
McCulloch fell "while surrounded by hundreds of children, stood up, pulled up his shirt to display a handgun and badge, then began firing his weapon in an upward direction approximately a dozen times while shouting that the attendees would die," according to court documents.
Kirkwood police confirmed McCulloch was there with his family.
Corey Schonhorst was there with his 8-year-old son.
“The main crowd had just started to kind of wander in,” Schonhorst recalled.
Schonhorst said McCulloch stood in the middle of the crowd in the parking lot.
“He held his gun with a menacing grin on his face and a lifeless look in his eyes and fired five shots and waited for the crowd to react. It was complete chaos. One kid had completely run out of his shoes,” Schonhorst said.
Schonhorst said it all happened within 45 seconds.
“At the time it seemed like eight, nine minutes," he said. "I mean, it was like time stopped. The scariest thing I can really remember is after those parents tackled him to the ground, he was still smiling."
The parents who tackled him took his gun, Schonhorst said.
“The fact that he’s a police officer really is a pretty scary thought because who do we turn to now to protect our children?" Schonhorst said.
Schonhorst said he can't forget how McCulloch kept smiling through it all.
“Even though nobody was hurt, there’s going to be an air of trauma that may not come out in some of these kids for years to come,” Schonhorst added.
The McCulloch family issued a statement Monday, also acknowledging the wounds that are unseen. The statement, written on the stationary of McCulloch's father, Bob McCulloch, attorney at law, read:
"While we do not yet know all of the details, it is our understanding that our son was involved in an incident at North Kirkwood Middle School in which several shots were fired into the air. Please know that we will be eternally grateful that no one was physically injured. However, we also are painfully aware that an incident such as this can and does cause significant trauma to those, especially children and their parents, who witness such an event. Our thoughts and prayers are with those victims. This incident has had an incredible emotional impact on so many people, including our family. We are also confident that the Kirkwood Police Department will conduct a complete and thorough investigation and we ask that the public and the media be patient while the investigation continues. We will have no further statement."
Gregory called his officer's actions "disappointing" in his statement.
"We were disappointed to learn that the actions of one of our officers caused a disturbance in the City of Kirkwood on Sunday," Gregory wrote. "In a profession where we are called to keep the peace, this display of disregard for safety is concerning. We are very grateful that no one was hurt."
Arrest records show Kirkwood police arrested McCulloch Sunday, and he remains at the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton.
Bob McCulloch was the St. Louis County prosecutor from 1991 until 2019 when Wesley Bell defeated him.
Bell's office issued a statement Monday, noting that his office will be prosecuting this case. The statement outlined how the Conviction and Incident Review Unit (CIRU), an independent unit that Bell formed to handle cases involving police officers and other public figures, issued the charges.
"It is public knowledge that Mr. McCulloch was a St. Louis County Police officer at the time of this incident. Our CIRU was formed to promote public trust in the integrity of our office’s handling of cases such as this. It also is public knowledge that Mr. McCulloch is the son of a previous St. Louis County prosecuting attorney. That fact has no bearing on the evidence or law relative to this case and poses no conflict to this office’s handling of the case. We are a professional office of prosecutors who review all cases in light of the evidence and the law and treat all defendants fairly, justly and equally. That said, these charges are allegations, and this defendant is presumed innocent."
The North Kirkwood Middle School is located at the intersection of Geyer and Manchester roads. Tillman Elementary School is in the neighborhood on the southeast side of the intersection at Kirkwood and Manchester roads.
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