A Missouri man was shot and killed after he allegedly tripped on a barbecue grill and accidentally bumped into someone’s apartment door.
via People:
Police said Larry Neal Jr., 31, was walking in an apartment complex’s breezeway in the 6800 block of Chesapeake Drive in the St. Louis suburb of Florissant on Sunday around 12:20 a.m. He stumbled over a barbecue grill and bumped into an apartment door, where a man named Thomas Clement was inside.
According to a St. Louis County Police Department probable cause statement obtained by PEOPLE, Neal walked away and was heading up a stairway when Clement, carrying a gun in his hand, came out of the apartment and yelled at him.
Police said Neal, who was unarmed, was on the landing of the stairwell when Clement, 30, allegedly opened fire.
“Approximately eleven shots were fired by the suspect,” according to the probable cause statement.
“I kept seeing him gasp for air and he was shot five times, one in the chest, one here and four in his stomach, so six times I think,” Neighbor Malaysia Worthy told WFMY about Neal Jr., who regularly visited the apartment complex. “His friend did mouth-to-mouth; I was holding the bullet wound while trying to do CPR with one hand.”
St. Louis County Police Sgt. Benjamin Granda tells PEOPLE that the two men did not know each other.
“The involved parties were strangers,” he said.
Neal was transported to an area hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Police said Clement “is a danger to the community due to the nature of the charges.”
Clement was charged Sunday with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the north St. Louis County slaying.
He is being held in St. Louis County Jail with no bail.
We can’t even begin to comprehend what could possess someone to open fire with such a disregard for human life.
