ST. LOUIS — One of the people arrested in connection with a deadly gas station shooting was a teen that escaped a juvenile detention center and was a suspect in multiple other crimes, a police source told 5 On Your Side.
The deadly shooting happened Monday morning at a gas station at the intersection of 14th and Chouteau, just south of downtown. A police source told 5 On Your Side's Christine Byers that the teen has been on their radar for nearly a month.
According to a St. Louis police source, on Nov. 19 two boys, ages 16 and 17, climbed out of a third-floor window at the Hogan Street Regional Youth Center in north St. Louis.
The source said days later, on Nov. 30, University City police named the 16-year-old as a "person of interest" in a shooting in the 7600 block Canton.
We're also told the victim in that shooting was the 17-year-old boy who escaped from the Hogan Detention Center.
Investigators believe after the University City shooting, the 16-year-old suspect drove around in a stolen car.
On Monday, 5 On Your Side learned that car was "wanted in connection with a shooting” at a gas station near 14th and Chouteau shortly after six Monday morning.
Police say someone shot a 43-year-old man in his head and killed him.
They also say a "suspect was taken into custody."
Our source says the 16-year-old Hogan escapee was one of three suspects arrested in the deadly gas station shooting after bailing out of a stolen Hyundai Elantra.
5 On Your Side reached out to the youth center to ask about the teens' recent escape but were told their director left for the day.
5 On Your Side also reached out to the state agency that oversees the center, but so far, we haven’t heard back.
Police haven't released the name of the man killed at that gas station.