MARIETTA, Ga. — A man who was arrested in Georgia has been charged in the killing of a man near a popular area of St. Louis' Washington Avenue on Halloween night.
Leron Harris, 25, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 38-year-old Mark Schlemmer from Collinsville, Illinois. Schlemmer was the father of two teenage girls.
According to a probable cause statement from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Schlemmer and two witnesses had just left a Halloween party on Washington Avenue in the early hours of Nov. 1, 2019, and got into a car parked along the street.
Schlemmer got into the passenger seat and the first witness, who police said had a prior relationship with Harris, got into the driver's seat.
Police said Harris pulled up in a car wearing a mask and tried to block the witness' car in, then pointed a gun at the driver and fired. The bullet missed the driver and struck Schlemmer in the head.
The witness drove away, police said, before Harris reversed his car and accelerated to chase after them. Harris lost control and crashed into several cars.
Schlemmer was taken to the hospital but later died.
Police said the second witness owned the car that Harris used and was allowing him to drive it. That witness told police that Harris texted her after the shooting and told her to throw away her phone and report her car as stolen.
The first witness identified the mask Harris was wearing from a photo on his Instagram, police said.
Harris was later arrested on Nov. 15 in Marietta, Georgia, when police said he led them on a high-speed chase that ended in him crashing his car. The same mask described by the witness was found in the car, police said.
Harris admitted he left St. Louis because he was the suspect in a homicide.
Harris is facing charges in Cobb County, Georgia, for fleeing police and gun and drug possession. He also faces prior convictions of possession of a controlled substance, aggravated robbery with a firearm and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.
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