Andre Pellegrino

Friday’s incident began around 7:30 a.m., when police said an officer saw a gunman and an injured man running toward him from a homeless encampment outside the old municipal courthouse at 14th and Market streets. The officer shot the gunman, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim of the original shooting was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The 42-year-old officer, an 18-year veteran of the department, was not injured. After an initial investigation, St. Louis police Maj. Janice Bockstruck lauded the officer for taking action to protect the public. “He’s here to protect the citizens of St. Louis as they’re doing their business, and he absolutely did,” she said at a news conference. Bockstruck said the shooting was captured by a mobile surveillance camera, but she said she hasn’t decided if the video will be released to the public. The city’s Force Investigative Unit will review the incident, as they do with all shootings involving officers. After the shooting, police, including Chief Robert Tracy, crowded the area as people made their way into work inside City Hall. And within a few hours, a raft of city streets and forestry workers had flooded in to pull up tents, fence off the area and clear out stragglers. In a statement, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones commended the officer who shot the gunman for upholding “his duty to protect and serve,” and said her administration was taking the incident seriously.