ST CHARLES, Mo. — An O'Fallon, Missouri, man was charged late Monday with one count of unlawful use of a weapon following an hours-long standoff with police in a parking garage under City Hall in St. Charles.
St. Charles County prosecutors said Terrance D. Mahone, 42, was hiding in the backseat of a woman's car that was parked in the garage when she tried to get in it.
"Charges arose when the victim entered her vehicle ... and sat in the driver’s seat. The victim then began to scream which resulted in Mahone yelling at her to stop," prosecutors said.
When the woman didn't stop screaming, Mahone fired one shot from a 9mm handgun from inside the car. He then refused to get out of the car once officers arrived, according to charging documents.
Earlier in the day, St. Charles police said Mahone and the victim are married.
Authorities initially though the woman was being held hostage but St. Charles County prosecuting attorney Joe McCulloch later classified the incident as a "family disagreement that spiraled out of control."
St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer said the incident was related to a court case earlier in the day.
"It wasn’t favorable for some reason," he said.
Mahone eventually surrendered to police and was taken into custody at about 12:08 p.m., a little more than two hours after police first arrived on scene.
A shell casing was found in the vehicle along with a bullet hole in the front of the vehicle. No one was injured, police said.
Borgmeyer said police shut down the elevator in the parking garage and blocked all exits during the standoff, essentially trapping Mahone and the woman.
Lt. Daniel Gibbons, a St. Charles police spokesperson, said Mahone was previously known to law enforcement.
Mahone was being held at the St. Charles County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
Photos: St. Charles police standoff at garage under city hall
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