ST. LOUIS — A 25-year-old St. Louis woman who died after being shot earlier this month was able to call 911 and provide a dispatcher with a description of the man who shot her and the car he was driving, according to court documents.
St. Louis police said the victim, Arriell Dixon, was found in the early morning hours of May 5 lying on the sidewalk on the 4200 block of Obear Ave. She had been shot in the neck and arm.
Before Dixon was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene shortly after 1 a.m., she called 911 and told a dispatcher that the man who shot her drove away from the scene in a white Nissan sedan.
Surveillance video from the area captured the Nissan parking along the street at 12:55 a.m. and driving away 13 minutes later. At the same time, police said, a ShotSpotter system captured audio of gunshots being fired in the area.
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office on Friday charged Graylon Lindsey, 22, with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Dixon's death.
Police said a temporary license plate on the Nissan was registered to Lindsey. Investigators were able to trace back to Lindsey a cellphone number provided to the dealer that sold the car.
Location data from the cellphone showed it was in the area where Dixon was killed on May 5, police said.
Just over a week later, on May 14, police said location data indicated the same cellphone was near where a 16-year-old Eureka High School student was killed in south St. Louis.
Kyierah Jeffries was found at about 3:45 p.m. shot in the stomach outside a home on the 5900 block of Minnesota Ave., about three blocks south of Interstate 55 and Bates Street in the city's Carondelet neighborhood.
Police said she was in and out of consciousness before she was transported by ambulance to a St. Louis hospital.
Jeffries, who lived a half-mile south of where she was killed, died at the hospital.
Prosecutors issued additional counts of first-degree murder and armed criminal action against Lindsey for the girl's death.
According to a probable cause statement filed by police, Lindsey admitted during questioning after his arrest to both shootings and that a gun found in the back seat of the Nissan was the gun used to commit the crimes.
In the days after her death, Jeffries' family remembered her as someone who never gave up.
"She's my fighter. She's been fighting and she went out fighting," her mom, Cheryl Ford said, fighting back tears.
Jeffries, the sixth child to die by gunfire in St. Louis in 2022, was the first victim during a violent weekend in St. Louis that left three people dead and 10 others injured.
Her aunt, Anika Jeffries, implored for an end to the bloodshed.
"You're tearing apart families. Like we're so hurt over this. We don't know how to get through this without her. You just wrecked an entire family by ripping her away from us," she said.
Rockwood School District interim superintendent Dr. Tim Ricker said the district was "shocked and saddened" to learn of Jeffries' death.
"Our sincere thoughts and sympathies are with Kyierah’s family, as well as the educators and friends who knew and loved her," Ricker wrote in an email to parents and guardians of students.
Counselors, social workers and social-emotional behavior specialists were available for anyone at Eureka High School affected by Jeffries' death.
"As a mom, I don't have anything. I don't know where to go. I never thought to look for a funeral home or anything. I'm lost," Ford added. The family established a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.
Police said Grayson was also suspected of being involved in two shootings in 2021.
In the first incident, a woman in her 40s was beaten and then shot inside a vacant building in the 1900 block of Coleman St. in early May. Police said the woman jumped out of a window after she was shot.
And about six weeks later, a 54-year-old man was shot in the neck while he was in his car near the intersection of Theodosia and Academy avenues. The man told police he had just dropped a woman off when a man approached him and fired a shot.
Grayson was being held without bond at the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis.
