Kathon Terrell Moore Jr.

Kathon Moore, 14, was found dead near 1142 Hodiamont Avenue in the city’s West End neighborhood at about 5:20 p.m. on March 8, 2021. Surveillance video showed the crime, police said. Kathon was pulled off his bike and then shot in the head. The killers then stole the boy’s marijuana, according to court papers. Kathon was a freshman at Soldan High School. Kathon lived in the 5800 block of Etzel Avenue, about a half-mile from the shooting scene. Kathon’s maternal grandmother, Doris Finley, said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch that Kathon would have graduated in May 2024. Before Soldan, he attended an international language school from the age of 5 and spoke French. A St. Louis grand jury in April 2024 indicted James Jamel Blake and Omarion Chantez Mays on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. A key witness is an 11-year-old friend of Kathon, according to court papers. The friend identified Mays as the person who first assaulted Kathon. The younger boy rode away on another bike to get help before Kathon was shot, Finley said. When he returned to the scene with an older friend, Kathon was already dead. Finley said the younger boy recognized Mays in a Facebook post. Mays, in turn, gave detectives the name of the gunman who killed Kathon, according to court documents.