ST. LOUIS • Police pledged added vigilance downtown after a weekend robbery attempt that killed a college student and, hours later, led to a shootout with officers in which the culprits escaped.
No city detectives were injured when they traced a stolen car linked to the killing and ended up exchanging shots with its occupants in the Metro East.
The police department had scaled back extra patrols after the holiday season. But Chief Sam Dotson said Monday, “We’re going to go back to that elevated awareness downtown.†He said he would pull officers from special details and pay overtime to do it.
While property crimes have declined in the downtown area over recent years, violent crimes have held more or less steady, and were up 17 percent in 2014 over the year before, according to figures from the department.
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Bobby Christman, 19, of south أغر؟´«أ½ County, was fatally shot during a robbery attempt about 12:43 a.m. Sunday as he sat in a parked car with his brother and girlfriend at Lucas Avenue and North 15th Street. The scene is near City Museum and the Washington Avenue entertainment district.
Dotson said Christman’s 17-year-old brother was dropping the others at a birthday party at the nearby Europe Night Club, 710 North 15th Street, which admits customers as young as 18.
A car pulled up next to theirs, and a man got out with a handgun, police said. He opened their rear left door and tried to grab the woman’s purse. She resisted and Christman said something to the gunman, who fired a shot, returned to his car and fled.
Christman was unconscious when police arrived. He died at a hospital about 6 p.m. Sunday.
Noting that there had been a tug-of-war over the purse before the shooting, Dotson said, “I think when you’re confronted by an individual that’s armed with a gun, certainly a life is not worth a struggle over a purse.â€
Christman’s father, Bob Christman II, said he believed his son died trying to protect his girlfriend and brother.
“He was very protective,†the elder Christman said. “He had kind of a hard exterior but with a heart of gold.â€
Bobby Christman had been on the rugby and wrestling teams at De Smet Jesuit High School, where he graduated in 2013. He was a sophomore at Southeast Missouri State University and home over the holiday break. He also has a 14-year-old sister in high school.
The elder Christman said he is always concerned about his children’s safety but “never thought it would happen to us.â€
“We’re still kind of in shock,†he said. “It’s just such a senseless thing that happened.â€
He added, “I didn’t have that concern at all when he left. I grew up in أغر؟´«أ½. When I was in college, I used to go down to the Landing, to the Central West End, and that was never a concern. You think if you’re not going to the high-crime areas, that you’re going to be safe.â€
The police chief described Bobby Christman and the others as “true victims.â€
Dotson said the robbers used a silver 2004 Chrysler Sebring taken in a carjacking around 9 p.m. Friday in the 1700 block of Lucas Avenue downtown.
That victim, 22, told police that he parked and two men in hooded sweatshirts approached him and showed a gun.
The victim said he dropped his car keys, put his hands in the air and that one of the men struck him in the head with a gun before rifling through his pockets — taking money and his drivers license. One of the robbers got into the Sebring and drove off.
Police learned Sunday that the Sebring was in a parking lot outside a convenience store in the Washington Park area. Someone in the car fired at officers when they arrived about 6:30 p.m., and they returned fire. It was not clear whether any of the three men inside was wounded.
After a short chase, the three abandoned the car near 50th Street and Caseyville Avenue in Washington Park and disappeared.
Dotson said his officers did the right thing in not following them.
“They bailed out — ran — and the way (detectives) described it, it was a field of vacant buildings,†he explained. “And so, obviously, it’s not our neighborhood, we’re not familiar with it. I think for an officer-safety issue, the officer made the right choice not to pursue through an area he’s unfamiliar with.â€
Some downtown residents called Monday for a greater police presence. New crime statistics released Monday showed that there were seven homicides in the downtown area last year, up from four in 2013 and two in 2012.
Compared to past years, total crime downtown is down significantly.
That’s entirely due to a 30 percent drop in property crimes since 2008, according to a Post-Dispatch analysis of police data.
On Monday, the department released its 2014 crime statistics, which reflected an increase of 5.3 percent in violent crime, a decrease of 5.3 percent in property crime and an overall drop of 3.3 percent in all crime categories that are tabulated for the national FBI report.
Police Maj. Mike Caruso told the monthly meeting of the on Monday night that Christman’s murder is particularly troubling because “it was a total random act.†He said he expects the crime to be solved.
Jared Opsal, who represents the association, said Sunday’s shooting “sheds light on the need for an increased police presence,†and added: “Security is paramount in attracting visitors, residents and businesses to any neighborhood, and downtown’s ability to attract investment directly affects our entire region.â€
Downtown has been hit by a wave of random violence in recent months. In October, a lawyer walking on a well-trafficked stretch of downtown near a police substation was during rush hour.
On Oct. 6, in a daylight shooting downtown near the Old Courthouse. Four days later, in a car near the federal courthouse. Police said the victims in both cases appeared to be targeted.
Dotson attributed the violent crime surge downtown and a 40 percent drop in arrests citywide in 2013 to three factors: criminals “emboldened†by unrest stemming from Ferguson; police being more cautious than normal; and officers assigned additional protest-related duties.
“I think there was an understandable concern that (officers) didn’t want to be the next Darren Wilson, so there was some trepidation,†Dotson said.
Wilson is the white Ferguson officer whose killing of a black teen, Michael Brown, in that city Aug. 9 set off violent protests.
Jeff Rainford, chief of staff for Mayor Francis Slay, said أغر؟´«أ½ officers were routinely diverted to handle protests, which may have contributed to fewer arrests. But, Rainford said, police are returning to their normal posts.
“Our police officers want to police,†Rainford said.
He noted the city’s previously announced .
Police ask that anyone with information on the Christman killing call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477.
Nicholas J.C. Pistor and Walker Moskop of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
