Posted on September 18, 2020

St. Louis: Police Capture Man Who They Say Opened Fire on Officers – as Violence Against Cops Explodes in the City

Chris Elliot, Law Enforcement Today, September 16, 2020

Marc Taylor

Marc Taylor

Since May of this year, the city of St Louis, Missouri, has seen a significant increase in violence against police.  Since June 1st, the city has had nine active duty officers shot, one of those dying from his injuries.

An additional retired police officer was also shot and killed.  On September 10th, St Louis officers again came under fire, this time, they were able to shoot back and take the man into custody.

On September 10th, officers from the St Louis Metropolitan Police Department responded to a shots fired call just after 4am.  As they got into the area of Marcus and Kossuth Avenue, they spotted a man, later identified as Marc Taylor, walking down the street with a long gun.

Once Taylor saw the responding police vehicle, he immediately began opening fire on them. One of the officers who was in the vehicle was able to exit without being shot and placed himself in an area that he could safely return fire.

The officer returned fire, striking Taylor who attempted to run away from them. However, after a few steps, Taylor collapsed, and officers rushed up to him to render aid. Medical assistance was called, and Taylor was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

After he was secured, police checked the area that he had been walking around. The were able to recover three firearms as well as video surveillance which showed Taylor walking down the middle of the road carrying the long gun. At two points in the video, you can see the camera shake, police advise the shaking is from Taylor allegedly shooting it.

Now, the St Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office has filed two counts of first-degree assault on a special victim, and count of discharge or shooting a firearm at or from a motor vehicle and three counts of armed criminal action against Taylor. Thankfully, none of the officers were hurt in the exchange of gunfire with Taylor.

The most recent officer who had been shot while working in St Louis occurred just after this happened. St Louis Police reported an officer observed a red Impala with no license plates just before 9:30pm. The officer attempted to stop the vehicle which initially slowed down but did not stop.

The vehicle then sped off at a high rate of speed which caused the officers to start chasing it. During the chase, unknown person(s) began firing on the officers from the vehicle. Bullets struck an officers car, damaging the light bar, headlight, and one round went through the windshield, striking the officer in the shoulder.

Officers continued to look for the vehicle which was later located abandoned. The officer was transported to the Barnes Jewish Hospital and was listed in stable condition. Thankfully, the injury was not determined to be life-threatening.

St Louis Metropolitan Police Chief John Hayden spoke about the ongoing violent attacks against his officers:

“This is an extremely rough time to be a police officer. Officers are trying to do their jobs and they’re coming under gunfire.”

St Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson talked about the latest incident in which one of her officers was shot in the line of duty. She said:

“It is fortunate that it wasn’t worse.”

Hayden said:

“This is unprecedented violence against the police.”

This shooting happened just over two weeks after St Louis Officer Tamarris Bohannon was shot and killed while looking for a victim in a shooting. Bohannon had responded to a report of a gunshot victim and was looking for the person when a coward shot him in the head. The officer was transported to the hospital where he later succumbed to the injuries.

With nine active duty police officers in their city being shot since June, Krewson points out something that may not have been considered before, they also had a retired St Louis Police Captain shot and killed in June. Retired Captain David Dorn had gone to a business and was attempting to protect it from looters when he was shot and killed.

Krewson said:

“[I] just can never remember a time when we would have had 9 police officers shot plus a retired officer-10 in total-shot. Two died over just the last 3-plus months.

“We also see a lot of criticism and disrespect of law enforcement. There haven’t been as many consequences for some of this behavior. I think it’s really the whole combination of things.”

Hayden added:

“What I want to emphasize is this is the ninth policeman shot since June 1. That’s a very short period of time. In each instance, all the officers were trying to do is just do their jobs and they’re coming under gunfire.”

Original Article