Nurse Killed; Officer and Firefighter Shot in Missouri

Story courtesy of Officer.com 

 

BY CAROLYN TUFT and KIM BELL
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- A teenager who went to the hospital for a gunshot wound to the hand and a 22-year-old man have been arrested in the deadly home invasion that killed a nurse and critically wounded an off-duty St. Louis policewoman early today, police said.
Police identified the woman who was shot to death as Gina Stallis, 34, of the 6300 block of Juniata Street. Stallis was a popular registered nurse in the oncology department at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center on North Grand Boulevard in St. Louis.
Co-worker John Waldmann, 33, also of St. Louis, said he worked at the medical center with Stallis for the past five years. He said that Stallis has two two children -- ages 7 and 9.
"Her children were her life, and she did anything she could for them," Waldmann said. "She was a good person. Those of us here at the hospital will deeply miss her personality."
St. Louis police said that about 1:10 a.m. today, a 27-year-old off-duty police officer was being escorted to her car by her 29-year-old boyfriend as she left a house in the 900 block of Hickory Street, just south of downtown St. Louis. The couple were approached by two gunmen, who forced them back inside the home they had just left. Six more people were inside, police said.
The two suspects then announced a robbery. Then, police said, a struggle ensued and the officer was shot at least three times -- twice in the chest and once in the leg. She is listed in critical condition at a local hospital after undergoing surgery this morning.
"The Metropolitan Police Department extends our thoughts and prayers to our officer and all those involved in the incident," according to a police department press release.
The officer's boyfriend, a firefighter working on his Emergency Medical Technician license, was shot once in the neck. He is at a local hospital and is in serious condition. Police are not releasing the name of the boyfriend or the off-duty officer, who had been on the force for nearly two years. She graduated from the Police Academy in late 2007.
Stallis, who was inside the house, was shot once in the chest and died at a hospital, police said.
None of the other victims were injured and "at this point it does not appear anyone inside the residence returned fire," according to police. The home on Hickory is a large home and the residence of the police officer's mother, grandmother and other relatives, a family friend said. The officer's grandmother takes care of the Maronite Church of St Raymond's.
Still a mystery, therefore, is how the 16-year-old suspect's hand was shot. The suspect arrived for treatment of his wound at an area hospital. Police did not say whether detectives believe he was shot by his accomplice. The teen suspect was released and then was taken into juvenile custody by police.
A short time later, police spotted a second person matching the description of the second gunmen in a vehicle near the Kings highway entrance to Forest Park, police said. The 22-year-old suspect was arrested. In the vehicle, police found two weapons and property stolen from the home during the invasion on Hickory Street, police said.
Police will not release the names of the suspects until they are charged with a crime.
St. Louis Police Lt. Col. Reggie Harris told reporters there was no indication that the officer or anyone else at the home was targeted.
"It was a crime of opportunity," he said.
Hickory is south of downtown in the city's La Salle neighborhood. The neighborhood is bounded by Chouteau Avenue on the north, Tucker Boulevard on the west and Interstate 55 on the southeast.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service