ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A police investigation that started as the reported attempted murder of a woman in St. Louis County ended in Michigan with a man shooting himself during a police chase as he tried to flee to Canada.
On Tuesday, St. Louis County police officers responded to the 2200 block of Outlook Drive in north county for a report of a shooting. They found a woman suffering from several gunshot wounds, but she was still alive and was able to tell officers who shot her, county police said.
The woman identified her ex-boyfriend, 53-year-old Karl Lymas, as the gunman.
The victim said she and Lymas dated for eight years and broke up about two years ago. They now live in separate states but have items in a storage space in California, where the woman now lives. Lymas, who now lives in Chicago, went to get his belongings from storage and wanted to meet up with his ex in person to give her a copy of the storage key, St. Louis County police said.
They agreed to meet up in St. Louis County while the woman was in town to bury her father, police said.
But she was afraid to let Lymas know exactly where she was staying, according to court records. So, she met up with him at about 11 p.m. Tuesday at an address in the 2200 block of Outlook Drive.
The woman told police he immediately pulled out a gun with a flashlight attached and ordered her to get in his car. When she refused, he shot her several times, according to the probable cause statement. She was seriously injured.
He got away from the scene.
St. Louis County prosecutors charged Lymas with first-degree domestic assault, two counts of armed criminal action and second-degree attempted kidnapping.
On Wednesday afternoon, St. Louis County police put out an alert for law enforcement agencies in Michigan to be on the lookout for Lymas. They believed he was heading that way to cross into Canada via a bridge in Sault Ste. Marie.
Not long after, an off-duty officer spotted a vehicle matching the description given in the alert. Police in Michigan tried to pull over Lymas, but they said he refused to stop, so a chase ensued. During the pursuit, Michigan State Police said Lymas killed himself.
Several officers with law enforcement agencies and the Department of Natural Resources in Michigan assisted in the St. Louis County investigation.
