MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — A man has been charged in the deadly shooting that happened inside the Maryland Heights Community Center Monday night.
Prosecutors charged Michael Joseph Honkomp with one count of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault on a special victim, one count of resisting arrest and three counts of armed criminal action.
Honkomp, a 30-year-old man from Florissant, is still in serious condition at a local hospital after police said he exchanged gunfire with a Maryland Heights officer Monday night.
The probable cause statement attached to the charges reads as follows:
“On or about February 24, 2020, defendant, with deliberation, shot and killed victim, Maria L. Lucas. After killing the victim, the defendant exchanged gunfire with Maryland Heights Police Officer and was subdued. The entire incident was captured on video surveillance. Detectives from Maryland Heights Police Department are conducting the investigation.”
Honkomp is being held without bond.
Lucas, 45, of Olivette, was a city employee, Maryland Heights Police Chief Bill Carson said at a Tuesday morning news conference. Lucas was the on-duty supervisor at the community center at the time of the shooting. Honkomp was a part-time employee of the city for just under three years and was a janitor at the community center, police said.
“He was being sent home from work and reacted with ‘anger,’” Chief Carson said. He went up to Lucas and had a conversation with her and then pulled out a handgun.
Lucas worked for the city for seven years.
Moments after the shooting happened, a woman ran up to a Maryland Heights police officer who was in the parking lot of the facility. Chief Carson said the officer did not hesitate to run into the building alone and that he was confronted by the gunman almost as soon as he walked through the front doors.
"The actions of our police officer were actually very heroic. He was notified that there had been a shooting, there was a man with a gun inside the community center. He immediately went inside the community center and confronted the gunman, and shots were exchanged," Carson said.
The officer wasn't injured.
The officer was wearing a body camera at the time of the incident, Carson confirmed. He also noted that the officer is relatively new and had been out of the academy for just over a year.
Police are reviewing the body camera video and security camera footage from the community center.
There were more than 150 people inside the community center when the shooting happened. No one else was injured in the shooting.
READ MORE:
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- Woman shot, killed at community center by co-worker who was ‘angry’ about being sent home from work
- 'Life could just end at any moment' | Woman inside community center during shooting hid in a closet
- ‘Very heroic’: Officer stops gunman suspected of killing woman inside Maryland Heights Community Center