Lydia Elking

A 15-year-old girl from Lake Saint Louis was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in St. Charles Saturday evening. St. Charles police say the shooting happened in a residential neighborhood near the intersection of Oak Avenue and Perry Street, just east of Lindenwood University’s campus. The girl was a passenger in a car driven by a 17-year-old boy, also from Lake Saint Louis. The driver told police the pair were told by two men to meet them in the neighborhood, though police say the reason is still under investigation. When they arrived, the two men approached the car on foot, announced a robbery and displayed a handgun that they eventually fired into the vehicle, striking the girl in her chest. The boy drove off and went to a nearby hospital, where the girl was later pronounced dead. Police responded to the hospital at about 8:50 p.m. Police haven’t released the name of the victims or any suspects. Neighbors say this kind of thing isn’t supposed to happen in St. Charles. The county recorded just six homicides last year. “I went to St. Charles because it’s safe, it has a reputation for being safe,” said Jeremy Cowen, who has lived in his house on Perry Street for about six years. “Nothing really happens here.” He didn’t hear any shots but saw the police sirens and officers examining the block close to midnight Saturday. “I’m from Chicago, so I’m used to this,” he said. “It’s part of the world we live in.” He and other neighbors said there was one house on the block that had attracted some police attention. Police even appeared to have executed a search warrant there within the past six months, two of them said. But other than that, it had quieted back down in recent months. Kids walk along the street to and home from Lincoln Elementary School two blocks away. Neighbors know each other. “We all pretty well watch out for each other,” said Patsy Wester, who has lived in the neighborhood for about nine years. Wester didn’t realize there had been a shooting until her daughter, who lives nearby, called her late Saturday to tell her there were police all over the street. “You never know when something’s going to happen,” Wester said.