ST. LOUIS — Police arrested a man on Friday who they believe could be responsible for two recent shootings at a downtown parking garage.
Deshaun King Wilson was charged on Saturday with one count each of first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, three counts of armed criminal action and two counts of first-degree assault for both incidents.
Wilson was also charged with one count each of unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action, unlawful possession of a firearm and resisting/interfering with arrest for a felony in connection to an attempted robbery in the Marriott garage Friday.
Two men were shot and injured Thursday inside the parking garage of the Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel in downtown St. Louis, a day after a woman was fatally shot in the same garage.
Police sources tell 5 On Your Side's Christine Byers that a security guard stopped Wilson on Friday as he was trying to rob a couple at gunpoint in the Marriott garage. Wilson ran off, and police responded and chased him on foot through downtown St. Louis. He was eventually taken into custody.
A police source said Friday night that after detectives talked with the couple, they believe the suspect was going to shoot them. The suspect's gun jammed, the source said.
According to the probable cause statement, Wilson tried to throw away the gun during the police foot chase, but a witness saw it and told police where to find the gun. The gun matched shell casings found from the first two crimes. Wilson admitted to police that he owned the gun.
During an afternoon news conference, St. Louis police Capt. Pierre Benoist confirmed that a suspect in the shootings had been taken into custody after a foot chase but did not confirm whether he had been trying to rob someone when he was spotted.
The man threw a gun on a roof during a chase and police used a ladder to retrieve it. According to a probable cause statement, the gun matched the shell casings found at both recent shootings at the garage.
The suspect admitted to police that the gun was his, the probable cause statement said. He also admitted that he frequently uses the parking garage for shelter because he is homeless.
The first shooting happened on Wednesday. Police responded to the parking garage and found a woman lying dead on the ground behind her car.
Police identified her as Latatia Stewart, 57, of Cahokia Heights, Illinois. 5 On Your Side interviewed Stewart in 2020 as she sought justice for her son, who was shot and killed earlier that year.
Stewart was a banquet server at the hotel for the past 20 years. Her family is now dealing with the unimaginable.
"This is a living, breathing nightmare,” said Stewart's mother, Minnie Gilbert.
Stewart's son, Paul, found his mom slumped over the wheel of her car, its windshield riddled with bullet holes.
"Now it's just me and my baby brother and my father. We could be next,” Paul Stewart said. "This is tearing our family and it's hurting us. My mother was strong and she was the rock of our family."
Police originally believed that Stewart may have been targeted.
"Now that we have both incidents and we’re able to sit back and look at them, we don’t believe they are targeted attacks at all," Benoist said.
The victims in Thursday's shooting, two men in their 30s, said they were on the third floor of the garage when a suspect approached them and fired shots. The men told police they didn't have issues with anyone and didn't know why they were targeted. One of the men later identified Wilson in a photo lineup.
"We’re very pleased to take this gentleman off the street," Benoist said.
Additional security will be in place every weekend in the downtown and Downtown West neighborhoods moving forward, Benoist said.