ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting to shooting a coworker.
Myah Blankinship, 23, was sentenced Friday, two months after pleading guilty to first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of a coworker on Sept. 26, 2023.
St. Louis police said officers responded to a report of a shooting shortly after 4 p.m. on Sept. 26 at a Family Dollar store located at the intersection of Saint Louis and North Florissant avenues. When officers arrived, they found a 30-year-old woman lying on the ground inside the store with a gunshot wound to her face.
The victim was critically injured and taken to an area hospital for treatment, police said. She later told police she was involved in an altercation with the suspect and walked away when the suspect pulled out a handgun and shot her.
Police recovered the gun at the scene.
According to the probable cause statement, police interviewed several witnesses who said they saw the shooting. They told agents that Blankinship and the victim, who both work at the store, got into a fistfight. After the fight had been broken up, Blankinship shot the victim. Two children, who were under 17 years old, were nearby.
The fistfight was also caught on store surveillance video. Police said it showed that victim, who was unarmed, had walked away from Blankinship when she pulled out a gun from her purse, walked up to the victim and shot her. Blankinship then left the store.
Blankinship was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the assault charge and three year for armed criminal action.
