ST. LOUIS — Two teenagers, including one who was arrested in connection with a deadly September shooting near the Arch, escaped juvenile detention Tuesday night, officials have confirmed with 5 On Your Side.
Sources said at about 7:15 p.m. the teens were walking back from the gym at the facility on Enright Avenue when they busted out a window and jumped out. Sources said they then jumped a fence and ran off.
The teens who escaped are 15 and 17 years old. As of Wednesday morning, they have not been found.
The 17-year-old was taken into custody in September, a few days after a shooting that left 29-year-old Brandon Scott dead. The teen was being held on a first-degree murder charge, a spokesperson with the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court confirmed. A 35-year-old man, Mark Perry, also was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting.
St. Louis police were called to Washington Avenue and Second Street in the early morning hours of Sept. 7 for a shooting. When officers arrived, they found a car stuck in a concrete stairway. Inside, Scott was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
According to a probable cause statement for charges against Perry, police collected shell casings from two different firearms.
A detective investigating the shooting tracked down surveillance video from the area which captured the shooting and the suspect vehicle. The investigator traced the car back to the registered owner — the woman arrested in the case.
That woman told police she was in the car with Perry and the 17-year-old boy when the shooting happened. She said Perry was in the back right side passenger seat. The police detective said the surveillance video showed two guns pointing out of that window and gunshots being fired at Scott.
Police believe road rage may have been the motive, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The 15-year-old boy who also escaped Tuesday night was being held on two counts of tampering; three counts of resisting/interfering with an arrest, detention or stop; one count of tampering with electronic monitoring equipment and violations of terms of release.
"No injuries were reported and the facility was placed on lock down," 22nd Judicial Circuit Court spokesperson Jacob Long said in an emailed statement. "Police continue to assist the Court in investigating the incident as the search for the two juveniles remains ongoing."
About a month ago, four teenagers escaped from the same facility as the two teens Tuesday night.
The four boys grabbed a set of keys off a desk and used them to leave the building, assaulting several staff members and damaging a door in the process.
Once the boys were outside of the facility, they attempted to steal a silver vehicle being driven by a woman. They were unsuccessful and fled southwest across North Vandeventer Avenue.
The facility in St. Louis' Covenant Blu-Grand Center neighborhood holds children who "may pose a threat to the community or be at risk for failure to appear in court."
The escape Tuesday night marks at least the third time this year that juvenile detainees have broken out of facilities in the city.
NEW POLICY
Kenya Brumfield-Young, SLU assistant professor of criminology, spoke to 5 On Your Side and dissected what may be going on at the facility.
Before entering academia, she had boots on the ground for many years in detention centers and juvenile courts.
"If we look at St. Louis City Detention Center, it's an older building with policy changes and staff shortages," She said. "They are often not fully equipped to work with young people who are living with traumatic experiences."
Brumfield-Young said a new policy could be having an impact.
In Missouri's courts, 17-year-olds are now automatically treated as juveniles rather than adults, which means older teens are held at the detention facility.
The piece of legislation called 'Raise The Age' went into effect this year.
Brumfield-Young said she believes this is a good policy and it's an advantage.
"When they go to justice centers, they have to be out-of-site from adults with offenses. They are in segregated units or in confinement for a while. In the state of Missouri, if they are held at a justice center, the state of Missouri does not have to provide education for them if they are under the age of 18, so they lose out in educational terms, so there’s advantages to them being in the detention center," Brumfield-Young said.
Yet, she wonders if changes have been made at the facilities.
"Have we made shifts to have older kids being able to come in and influence younger kids. We also have to look if we are re-training to meet new populations," Brumfield-Young said.
And she wonders if they've adjusted.
"Under the brain science, the frontal lobe isn't fully developed until mid-20's so things that go along with that is impulsiveness and susceptibility to peer pressure," she said. "One thing I've noticed, it's not always one escaping, it's been at least one so there's a couple or a small group, so I think there's some influential behavior happening there."
She notes capacity is growing, too, and they need to adapt.
"We know people are more prone to risk-taking behaviors," she said. "I think with the growth in numbers, we are going to have a growth in risk-taking behaviors by the rise in populations."
5 On Your Side asked 22nd Judicial Circuit Court spokesperson Jacob Long if staffing shortages are at hand. He said:
"The circumstances surrounding the escape last night remain under investigation. But speaking generally, the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court, like many public and private entities, has not been immune from various challenges associated with filling open positions."