PAGEDALE, Mo. — A teenage boy was killed in a shooting Wednesday afternoon in Pagedale.
Officers with the Pagedale Police Department responded shortly after 1 p.m. to a shooting on the 1500 block of Purdue Avenue. They arrived to find a 15-year-old shooting victim in an alley between Bradford and Purdue avenues.
The Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis was activated to conduct a homicide investigation. On Thursday, they identified the victim as Lawrence A. Clark.
Police did not provide further information on the circumstances of the shooting or possible suspects.
“It’s heartbreaking that you have to come home to some stuff like this. That your neighborhood is blocked off because someone was killed. My heart got out to the family,” said neighbor Christina Arnold, who has lived in the Pagedale neighborhood her entire life.
She said her son told her he heard about seven shots.
" It’s not even summertime and it’s happening right now<" Arnold said. "That’s just a shame. When is it going to end?"
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell went to the scene to learn what he could about the shooting, talked to officers and offered his support.
“We have to do something about this type of gun violence,” Bell said. " ... What we’re seeing is that this type of violence is happening with younger and younger victims and assailants, and obviously there are a lot of underlying issues that need to be addressed."
“It’s just sad. It’s happening too often," Arnold said. "Kids want to go out and play and you can’t even send them out to play because of all the violence around here."
Six hours after the shooting, detectives went back to the north county neighborhood, walked around and knocked on doors neighbors’ doors to look for any possible clues.
Anyone with information was asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477 or the Pagedale Police Department at 314-726-1112.
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