CLAYTON • A St. Louis man has been charged with shooting out car windows in Clayton, Maplewood, Shrewsbury and St. Louis, and charges are pending against the man for the same crimes in Rock Hill and Webster Groves.
Andre Armstrong, 19, told police he and some friends used a BB gun to damage cars parked up and down several streets in mid-November, according to court documents. Sixty-two cars in Clayton alone were damaged. No injuries were reported.
"Their reason was to just have fun — no agenda, no motive. They were just out having a good time," said Lt. Mark Smith of Clayton police.
Clayton police cracked the case by finding surveillance video showing the getaway car's license plate.
In some communities, the damage wasn't noticed until the morning after. In Shrewsbury, for instance, six residents on Suffolk Avenue woke on the morning of Nov. 14 to find either shattered car windows either or holes in their windshields.
Ed Magee, a spokesman for the St. Louis County prosecutor's office, said there were three other people in the car, including one who is a juvenile. The juvenile has been turned over to juvenile authorities. Magee said Wednesday that there isn't enough evidence to charge the other two adults.
Armstrong lives in the 5400 block of Wren Avenue, in the city's Walnut Park East neighborhood. He was charged with six counts of first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle for the Shrewsbury cases; 14 counts of the same crime in Maplewood, 19 counts in Clayton, and 11 counts in St. Louis.
The complaints describe tampering as defacing cars "knowingly and without the consent of the owner."
Clayton police broke the case when a witness called after seeing windows being shot out at about 10:15 p.m. on Nov. 13. The caller gave a general description of the getaway car. Police the next day pulled surveillance video from a nearby business and saw the car described by the 911 caller. The video was sharp enough to see the license plate. Police found the registered owner of the car, and that led them to Armstrong. He was arrested Nov. 15.
Shrewsbury police say Clayton was instrumental in them solving the crimes there, and other agencies were hoping to interview Armstrong as well to see if he would confess to shootings that damaged cars. Ten police agencies have looked at Armstrong for crimes in their jurisdictions.
Rock Hill and Webster Groves police have also dropped off information seeking charges against Anderson, but prosecutors say the paperwork hadn't been reviewed as of Wednesday morning.
A St. Louis city police officer shared the good news with residents at a Lindenwood Park meeting the other night. He told them that arrests had been made in connection with youths shooting at cars around Tower Grove East and elsewhere.
A judge set Armstrong's bail at $25,000 for the charges in St. Louis city. Judges in the county had set his bail at $15,000 in two of the cases but reduced it and were allowing him to post $1,500. He remained in the St. Louis County jail on Wednesday.
Editor's note: This replaces an earlier version that used an incorrect name in the 10th paragraph.
Kim Bell • 314-340-8115
@kbellpd on Twitter
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