Knuckle Dragging Thugs Retaliate After Armed Intruder Is Killed

Elderly man fatally shoots armed home intruder. But hours later, an apparent drive-by retaliation.

May 8, 2018 5:35 pm

An elderly homeowner in north St. Louis fatally shot an intruder Sunday afternoon. Then hours later, apparent retaliatory drive-by gunfire rang out at the victim's residence. (Image source: WVLT-TV screenshot)

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Dave Urbanski

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A 74-year-old homeowner told police he was in his backyard Sunday afternoon when Freddric Smith, 26, forced him inside his north St. Louis residence at gunpoint and demanded property, KMOV-TV reported.

But it turns out the homeowner had a gun, too — and once inside the dwelling, the victim retrieved it and exchanged gunfire with Smith, the station said.

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Smith was shot in his side and taken to a hospital where he was listed in critical, unstable condition, KMOV reported. He was later pronounced dead, the station said.

The homeowner was shot in the neck but was treated and released from a hospital Sunday evening, KMOV said. A 74-year-old woman was inside the home at the time of the shooting but was not injured, the station said, adding that both guns were found at the scene.

The victim is targeted again

But apparently it wasn’t over.

Just hours later — early Monday morning — KMOV said drive-by gunfire hit the 74-year-old homeowner’s residence. Bullets shattered glass and pierced a wall and the front door, the station said.

“Two o’clock in the morning, roughly two something in the morning, there was some gunfire in the house,” a neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of his safety, told KMOV. “Whether it was retaliation or whatever it was.”

‘Concerns about young men breaking into people’s houses’

The neighbor told the station that the homeowner warned him about criminal activity in the area just before the home invasion, the station reported.

“Had concerns about young men breaking into people’s houses,” the neighbor told KMOV. “And he had told me that 20 minutes before everything happened.”

Now what?

Police have increased patrols in the area to discourage more retaliatory shootings, the station reported, adding that the investigation is ongoing.