Jeffery Avant

Jeffery Avant, 35, was shot and killed in a home here this week, police said on Saturday. Officers found Avant at about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday in a home in the 1800 block of Cass Avenue, in the Carr Square neighborhood. He had been shot in the chest. Emergency workers took him to a hospital, where he died. Avant lived in the 1400 block of North 45th Street in East St. Louis, police said. Police, in more information released with the charges, said that the suspect forced his way into a woman's apartment on Cass Avenue, confronted and shot Avant. The suspect then forced the women and five children outside, stole her car and drove away.