7 killed Sunday and early Monday push year's death toll in St. Louis over 100

UPDATED at 11:03 p.m. with Monday night shootings on Ruskin Avenue

Three women were found dead in St. Louis on Monday morning, adding to a bloody weekend death toll that pushed the city’s homicide numbers over 100.

About 8 a.m. Monday, a woman’s body was found near North Euclid Avenue and Interstate 70 on an embankment near the interstate overpass. The victim, Laura Green, 23, of the 5000 block of Davison Avenue, had gunshot wounds to her shoulder and head.

Police were investigating whether Green’s death was connected to the fatal shootings of two women found in the Mark Twain neighborhood earlier Monday.

Green was an “acquaintance” of those women, also in their 20s, who were found dead about 2:35 a.m. in the 5400 block of Ruskin Avenue, police said.

One of them was found on the front porch of a home; the second was found inside a car. Police said both women had suffered gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman found dead in the car was identified as Ce’Onta Cretter, 21, of the 1200 block of Blumeyer Street. She had been shot in the cheek. Authorities were still trying to reach relatives of the other woman, 23, before releasing her name. She had been hit in the neck and finger.

On Monday night at about 10 p.m., three males were shot a block away in the 5300 block of Ruskin. Two of them were taken to a hospital in a private vehicle and a third stayed at the scene with a gunshot wound to the foot, police said.

Before the fatal shootings on Ruskin, a man was found fatally shot in the head about 11:45 p.m. Sunday in the 3600 block of Finney Avenue in the Grand Center neighborhood. Police found the man after responding to reports of shots fired. They found the man’s body next to a stolen car. Police had not yet identified the man.

A witness saw someone running from the scene but didn’t get a detailed description.

Three people were killed in the city early on Sunday. Officers found Timothy Williams, 17, shot to death in the 4100 block of Warne Avenue about 12:50 a.m. The teen lived in the 3800 block of Sullivan Avenue.

About two hours later, at 2:48 a.m., officers in the 1500 block of South Seventh Street saw a man firing at a black Dodge Challenger. After firing the shots, the gunman entered the passenger side of a gray Chevrolet Trailblazer, which fled south on Broadway, eluding police.

The victim’s vehicle struck several parked vehicles before coming to a rest. Inside was Shelby Polk, 35, of the 1400 block of Yaqui Drive in Florissant. He had been shot in the head and shoulder and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The third homicide occurred at 3:47 a.m. in downtown St. Louis when an unknown person fatally shot a would-be robber and wounded a robbery victim who was struggling with the robber over a firearm.

Police said Marco Warren, 19, tried to rob two women and a man at gunpoint on 13th Street near Washington Avenue. The women fled while the man, 32, fought with Warren. During the struggle, another man emerged from the area of 13th and St. Charles streets and began shooting at both Warren and the robbery victim. He fled and his motive wasn’t clear.

Warren, of the 5200 block of Wabada Avenue, was shot in the head and torso and died at the scene, police said. The male robbery victim was shot in the shoulder and taken to a hospital, where his condition was not available. Neither of the women was injured, police said.

Police had made no arrests in the killings.

At least 10 other people were injured in nonfatal shootings over the weekend, and several more were cut or stabbed in knife attacks.

That included two boys who were shot about 3:45 p.m. Sunday near Holly Avenue and Penrose Street during a drive-by. A 12-year-old was shot in the side, leg and arm. An older boy was hit in the buttocks. Their conditions were not available; police said only that they were stable. Authorities were looking for three people inside a white Ford F-150.

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect neighborhood for the shooting in the 5400 block of Ruskin Avenue.

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