Charles Sanders Jr.

Two men killed near the North Hanley MetroLink station were caught up in a robbery, police said. The victim of the robbery was 29-year-old Johnell Wilder-Lawson of the 4000 block of Esseldale Drive in St. Ann, St. Louis County police said. Charles Sanders Jr., 33, of the 4200 block of Oregon Avenue in St. Louis, was a bystander who intervened after the robbery. Two others were injured in the incident. Police did not specify how they were involved, but described them as victims. St. Louis County police said the men were shot shortly before midnight Sunday in the 4300 block of North Hanley Road after a robbery. A man and woman were walking near the MetroLink station when four men approached them with a gun, demanding their belongings, officers said. After the man and woman gave up their belongings, the suspects fled. A few witnesses and the victims ran after the suspects and got into a fight. The suspects shot at the group, officers said. The two surviving victims were also men, police said, and were being treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Makell Hemphill, 18, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action, St. Louis County police said in a release.