ST. LOUIS — The stepfather of two of the three suspects arrested in connection with the death of a retired officer is sending a message to other parents.
"Continue to communicate with them and discipline them, young boys and girls need discipline," said George Woods.
He says the teens, 17-year old Julian Mathews and his 15-year-old, whose name isn't being made public because he's a minor, were once on a straight and narrow path.
"They're good boys and I'ma stand on that," Woods said. "We're God-fearing people, they were raised good to get their education, and to proceed to go to college and become productive members of society."
That plan took a different path when the two were charged in connection with the shooting death of retired St. Louis police Sergeant Ralph Harper.
The 67-year-old was shot on Lackland Avenue near Tower Grove Park Monday.
"My condolences go out to the police officer and his family, and I'm speaking for me and my wife," said Woods.
Harper's family and friends describe him as a role model to his fellow officers. He dedicated more than three decades of his life to the force before he died. The sergeant even spent much of his life working directly with teens.
"Teenagers are teenagers, I was once a teenager. And peer pressure or being at the wrong place at the wrong time and being around the wrong individuals," Woods said.
Woods says although he and his wife tried their hardest, he acknowledges somewhere, somehow things went wrong.
His stepson Julian Mathews is charged with one count of second-degree tampering and one-count resisting arrest. His bond was set at $30,000, cash-only.
