ST. LOUIS — In the hours following an Independence Day fireworks display that brought thousands of people to downtown St. Louis, police were outnumbered and overwhelmed by hundreds of teenagers and young adults as the city descended into a lawless display and seven people were shot, according to a law enforcement source.
The source, who was familiar with St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department operations on July 4, said hundreds of people remained or arrived downtown following the Celebrate Saint Louis fireworks display, which ended shortly after 10 p.m. Despite a contingent made up of detectives and officers from SWAT, anti-crime, and drug enforcement and intervention units, police were outnumbered and unequipped to respond, the source said.
People and groups continued to set off hundreds of illegal fireworks, large and small, into the early morning hours. People fired Roman candles and other explosives toward other people and from moving cars. Fireworks glanced off buildings, scattered through trees and exploded in roadways amid congested traffic.
At one point, a group of people parked directly behind a St. Louis police Mobile Surveillance Unit, donned masks and put on backpacks that appeared to be stuffed with fireworks before joining the crowd.
A consistent police presence was not seen downtown during much of the chaos, with the exception of more than a dozen police vehicles that sped, lights and sirens activated, to a mass shooting shortly after midnight near the intersection of 8th and Pine streets.
First responders found a wounded 13-year-old boy and took him to an area hospital; six other victims ran from the scene — some not noticing until afterward that they had been shot — and flagged down passing drivers to take them to the hospital.
The victims said they had been downtown, walking down the street or standing and watching illegal fireworks displays, when they heard the gunfire and ran.
The shooting broke windows on two restaurants that are set to open soon: Burger 809, which is scheduled to open in Citygarden next week, and a storefront on Peabody Plaza that will soon be occupied by UKRAFT.
A video circulating on social media showed a person walking down the street near the north end of Citygarden, repeatedly firing what appeared to be a rifle as people ran for cover.
"Our prayers go out to anyone who was injured and witnessed last night's unfortunate events," UKRAFT co-owner Matt Ratz said. "Our company and many others have made serious investments in downtown St. Louis. We need more of a police presence and are hoping city leaders can have some accountability and unify with the police and have a plan of action moving forward to prevent this from happening again."
The lawless display mirrored a similar sight on July 4 last year, when two people were shot downtown. Among other scenes captured on video last year, lit fireworks were thrown into a portable toilet and a person was seen joy-riding a stolen scissor lift down Market Street.
Police did not specify what measures were taken to prevent similar events from happening again this year.
5 On Your Side was initially made aware of Friday morning's mass shooting through viewer emails and videos posted to social media.
In response to a request for information, police department spokesperson Mitch McCoy initially said that there was a shooting with multiple injuries, but "nothing that met the criteria" for a "real-time alert," the department's new policy for sharing information about critical incidents.
After 5 On Your Side published its initial report on the shooting, McCoy clarified that the delay in providing information was because victims arrived at multiple hospitals.
"It took several hours for us to figure out the victims were connected to a single incident and that is why a real-time alert was not issued," McCoy said. "When there is a story that involves multiple victims, we care about the investigation for the victims and the community."
Aside from the 13-year-old who was found at the scene of the shooting, four victims arrived at an area hospital in the same car, at least qualifying that a quadruple shooting had occurred. Two other people arrived at a hospital in a separate car.
It was unclear at what point police determined that all the shootings took place in the same location.
“What happened last night is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to all of the victims, their families and the entire St. Louis community,” St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said in a statement. “The simple fact is this: there are too many guns on our streets.”
Jones attributed the violence to "a small group of individuals with easy access to firearms (who) put a cloud over a day when thousands of residents got to enjoy their Fourth of July in downtown St. Louis safely."
Police asked anyone with information to call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS (8477).