Demond Taylor

Ken’Vonte Bownes, 21, was charged Thursday with robbery and armed criminal action in St. Louis County. He was booked into the county jail early Thursday and was in custody on a $200,000 bond. St. Louis County police say Bownes on Feb. 16 was leaving the Spanish Lake Market, at 11937 Larimore Road, just after 5 p.m., as 18-year-old Demond Taylor was walking in. Surveillance footage shows the two make eye contact, and then Bownes fires several shots at Taylor, police wrote in court documents. Bownes ran to his car, then went back inside the store to grab Taylor’s gun before speeding off. Taylor died at a hospital. Bownes cell phone data puts him at the scene at the time of the shooting, court documents say. Officers arrested Bownes Thursday and in an interview with investigators he said he shot Taylor in self defense, and that the teen was still alive when he took his gun and left. Authorities on Friday said Bownes was not charged with a homicide-related offense because he said he shot Taylor in self defense.