ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy joined Today in St. Louis to provide updates on a number of high-profile incidents in the St. Louis area over the last few weeks.
Teen shot on I-55
Tracy said the investigation into a shooting on Interstate 55 that left CBC High School hockey player Colin Brown critically injured remains extremely active. He said current evidence suggests that stray gunfire from someone shooting while heading south on I-55, possibly at someone else, struck Brown while he was riding northbound heading home from a hockey game.
He said the department was able to collect shell casings and utilize the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to develop leads in the case.
"Some of the things we were able to do on that highway gave us some leads, and hopefully, this is going to help us bring this person to justice for this reckless act," he said, "because this trigger puller deserves to brought to justice."
Tracy said Brown has been stabilized at an area hospital. His treatment remains ongoing.
"Thank God for the first responders, thank God for the quick actions of his father, that this child, right now, has a shot at possibly making a recovery but to what extent, we don't know at this time," Tracy said.
Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 314-444-5371. Anonymous tips can be provided to CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.
The St. Louis hockey community has rallied around the Brown family. Multiple groups are hosting fundraisers in the days since the shooting.
While police believe Brown may have been wounded by stray gunfire, Tracy said police work helped determine that the deadly kidnapping of Michelle Hampton was not a random crime.
"When you take a look at a lot of our cases in the city, people are known to each other," Tracy said, "and there are too many firearms. And when those get involved, you start to see the tragic results with Mrs. Hampton."
Tracy said they were able to break the case by utilizing leads, video evidence and their relationships with the FBI.
Anjuan Mosby, 43, is facing 20 charges including first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in the death of Michelle Hampton. He is also facing a federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death.
According to documents from the U.S. District Court Eastern District, Mosby was the boyfriend of Michelle Hampton's twin sister, Samantha Hampton. The sister witnessed the kidnapping and told police during an interview she suspected her boyfriend's involvement.
Samantha said she had recently told Mosby that Michelle was holding a $40,000 settlement on behalf of their brother. She also said that she hadn't seen Mosby since he left their home the morning of the kidnapping, and it was unusual for her to be unable to reach him.
Politics of policing
In talking about both of those cases, and a number of others that occurred in recent days, Tracy said what makes policing the city the most difficult is the number of guns on the street.
He said one area of concern is the number of children carrying guns.
"This is the first state that I've come to — I've been in New York, Delaware and Illinois — this is the first state where it is not prohibited for a juvenile to carry a firearm. That's alarming to me," he said. "And I think that's something that the state legislature has looked looked at, I think they need to continue to look at those things, kind of bring it up with the federal rules are, reasonable gun laws."
Tracy said city leaders worked to pass a new ordinance that requires a concealed-carry permit in order to open-carry a weapon in the city. He said that allows police to approach people who are visibly armed and ask them for their permit. He said that move has made it easier to keep weapons out of the hands of juveniles.
"This ordinance now allows us to approach them, by state law, ask them for their concealed-carry permit, and you have to be at least 19 years old to get a concealed carry permit, so therefore juveniles can't have an open-carry," Tracy said.
He said the next steps are to confiscate the weapon and issue them a summons or arrest them depending on if the gun is stolen or has a defaced serial number.
He said the work between the legislators in the city, Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore and Mayor Tishaura Jones has helped reduce violent crime across the city. He said he does not believe the push for state control of the police department is in the best interest of the region.
"I believe it's better under one mayor who answers to our constituency, is held accountable for crime and then holds her police chief accountable who she hired," he said.
Tracy said he has been to Jefferson City numerous times to discuss the topic with lawmaker and said they are reaching all the benchmarks that legislators have set in areas like morale, pay and crime.
He said the work of the police department has helped continue a steady decline in homicides since a record high of 263 in 2020. He said one homicide is still too many, but the department's work has cut that number nearly in half, with 133 homicides in 2024 as of Tuesday.
He said the work the department has done with Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore has helped hold criminals accountable after they are taken into custody.
"Having a good criminal justice system that is working properly is also going to help this city out," Tracy said.
You can watch the full interview below or by clicking here.