A Missouri customer at a convenience store in St Charles shot and killed a man suspected of being responsible for a string of armed robberies across the city.
Early on Saturday morning, authorities received their first call about a 26-year-old man who had entered a Mobile on the Run convenience store near the 1400 block of S Fifth Street and had held a knife to the clerk’s throat while he reportedly robbed her, police said in a statement on Facebook.
The 43-year-old clerk reportedly suffered lacerations to her left wrist, right hand and neck from the suspected robber’s knife and she was transported to an area hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
At approximately 3.14am, just a few minutes after the first call had been placed and while officers were on their way to the scene of the crime, police received a call about an alarm going off up the street at the Mid-Town Phillips 66 – located just one mile away from the first crime.
“Officers arrived to discover broken glass indicating a burglary had just taken place,” the St Charles Police Department said in a statement.
While an investigation into the morning’s second robbery was being carried out, police were again called about a report of a separate armed robbery with shots fired occurring less than 1.5 miles away from the second location.
Police said that when they arrived at the third location, a Quik Trip at 2260 First Capitol Drive, they found the 26-year-old suspect shot by a customer who had reportedly witnessed the third and final robbery at around 3.20am.
The suspect, who police later identified as Lance Bush of St Louis City, was transported to a nearby hospital shortly but was announced deceased shortly after arriving.
According to the police statement, the 26-year-old customer had stopped at the convenience store to use the restroom and when he was returning to his parked car, he saw the black SUV that the suspect had reportedly been driving pull into the parking lot abruptly.
“The witness observed the suspect carrying a backpack exit the SUV, run into Quik Trip and turn toward the coffee pot area where the female clerk, age 26, was standing,” the police said in a statement, adding that he then saw the suspect drag the clerk to the front counter with a knife held at her throat.
“I saw him grab her and drag her to the front to the counter, something wasn’t right when I saw that, so me being concealed carry, I had my gun on me and I just waited,” the customer told KSDK in an exclusive interview after the weekend armed robbery.
The customer, who asked to remain anonymous in the interview out of concern for his safety, then told the local news station that he approached the suspect and inquired if “everything was okay”, to which the suspect replied, “yes”. But, as he relayed in the interview, he still felt something was off.
“I could see her face she was saying no, she was scared,” he said, describing the 26-year-old clerk’s reaction to the confrontation. The customer then reportedly pulled his 9mm handgun and asked the suspect again if everything was okay, except this time the armed robber said it wasn’t and began walking towards him, according to police and the customer.
The customer then says he fired four shots at the 26-year-old before the man fell to the floor, he said.
Both the clerk and the customer called in the incident to the police shortly after.
Police said they’re still investigating the weekend crime spree and shooting, but the customer says that he’s still reeling from what he experienced.
“Taking somebody’s life is not an everyday thing, neither is saving someone’s life,” the customer said, adding that he didn’t really think “he had a choice”.
“He already had a knife at her throat, he could’ve pulled out something bigger than what I had then you would’ve had two people dead instead of one.”
