ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The shot fired by an off-duty St. Louis Metropolitan Department police officer at West County Center in September was an accident, according to a spokesperson from the Des Peres Police Department.
On Sept. 17, the incident started as a reported shoplifting. Police said two people assaulted a store manager, shoplifted and tried to leave the mall. An off-duty officer from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department saw the theft and tried to stop them. He also identified himself as a police officer, a spokesperson said. He followed them into the west parking garage, which is where the shot was fired.
According to Des Peres police, he saw one of the suspected shoplifters reached into his pocket and didn’t know if it was for keys or a weapon. One of them got into a car and ‘revved’ it while it was either in park or neutral.
That’s when the off-duty officer got his weapon out of his pocket and accidently discharged it, which hit the ground, a spokesperson from the Des Peres Police Department said.
A spokesperson for the Des Peres Police Department said while there were no shell casings found, but there was an indent in the concrete.
