ST. LOUIS (AP) - A woman and two young girls were shot to death Thursday morning inside a St. Louis home, and the city’s police chief said the person or persons responsible are still on the loose.
“This is not being investigated as a suicide,” Chief John Hayden said at a news conference outside the brick two-family south St. Louis home where the shooting happened. “This is being investigated as a homicide.”
Police received a call about shots fired around 7 a.m. Officers who entered the home found the bodies of a woman believed to be in her 30s, along with a 7-year-old girl and an infant. Hayden said the adult victim was “apparently the mother” of the girls. Names of the victims have not been released.
“Very tragic situation, very gruesome scene,” Hayden said.
Hayden did not say how police determined the deaths were not the result of a murder-suicide. He urged anyone with information to come forward.
“We need to solve this,” Hayden said. “We can, but we have to have people come forward.”
St. Louis has for years ranked among the most dangerous cities in the U.S., and 2020 was among the worst years ever for killings. Police recorded 262 homicides last year, the most since 267 in 1993, when the population was substantially higher.
The city has already recorded 20 killings in 2021, slightly ahead of last year’s pace.
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