Identity of man killed in St. Charles shooting released

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (KMOV) - A man was killed, and a woman was wounded in a shooting that occurred at an apartment complex in St. Charles Monday night, police say.

The shooting happened just before 11:00 p.m. at the Metro on 5th Apartments, which is near I-70 and Fifth Street. A 22-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man, later identified as Fithawi Gebremedhi, were both taken to a hospital, where the man died. The woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police say.

News 4 spoke to a neighbor who asked to stay anonymous because she’s concerned for her safety.

“It’s an apartment complex. I mean, everybody pretty much knows everybody, so for something like this happen it’s kind of just crazy,” the neighbor said.

She described the apartment complex to us as safe and quiet.

On Monday night she says she heard yelling, followed by gunshots and then the sounds of tires screeching as a car sped away.

“The shots was unbelievable because the area that we’re in,” she said. “I wasn’t really thinking anything of it and then immediately after that, like a couple minutes later, I just heard the ambulance, the fire department, the police.”

A 21-year-old suspect was later arrested at his home in University City. Police say with the help of University City Police, he was taken into custody and brought back to St. Charles City.

Police say they are seeking criminal charges, but won’t specify.

Michele Thompson moved to St. Charles about three years ago.

One of the reasons why, the feeling of safety.

“I don’t see a lot of crime,” Thompson says. “I don’t see random people wandering around. I mean you hear about things off and on but that just kind of happens everywhere.”

Hearing someone died just yards away, Thompson says was pretty concerning.

“I’m nosy, and I walked over and saw it was on the second floor, so I went it’s not random,” Thompson says. “Random would be first floor like my unit right off the parking lot with easy access. I thought oh that was a targeted something.”

Despite someone being in custody, some neighbors are still concerned for their safety.

“It’s still always like you never know. Especially since we don’t really know the circumstance.”

News 4 reached out to St. Charles City police for more information on what led up to the shooting, as well as the name of that suspect.

Investigators are asking people with more information on this to call the Detective Bureau at 636-949-3300.

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