Seychelle Jackson

Police received multiple calls reporting gunshots shortly before 8:30 p.m., according to St. Ann police Chief Aaron Jimenez. Police responded to the home, believing a person might be barricaded inside. Officers spoke with a 9-year-old girl who had been shot in the hand but escaped the house, Jimenez said. She told police her mother’s boyfriend had opened fire on her and her family. Two children and her mother were still inside. Paramedics took the girl to a local hospital, where she remains in stable condition. When police entered the house, they found the approximately 30-year-old mother and a 14-year-old boy shot to death. Paramedics transported a 5-year-old girl to a local hospital with gunshot wounds, but she later died. Police also found 34-year-old Coleman C. McIlvain barely breathing with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. McIlvain later died at a local hospital, Jimenez said. McIlvain was drunk at the time of the shooting, and he was arguing with the mother about taking her car, according to Jimenez, who cited information from the surviving girl. When the mother refused to let McIlvain either take her car or to transport him somewhere, he opened fire. The girl fled and found safety at a neighbor’s house. A family member will take custody of the girl, Jimenez said. He will focus on making sure police have access to counseling and support in the community where such crimes are uncommon. Police have also been in touch with Ritenour School District, the children’s district. “I’m worried about the 9-year-old child and how she will live the rest of her life, and worried about the police who had to witness this,” Jimenez said.