A 16-year-old Missouri highschool hockey participant died Wednesday days after a stray bullet struck him on a busy freeway whereas he was driving house from his sport together with his father.
Colin Brown, a sophomore at Christian Brothers Faculty Excessive Faculty (CBCHS), was sitting within the passenger seat of his father Calvin’s automotive when he was shot round 10:30 p.m. on Interstate 55 in South St. Louis Saturday evening, in keeping with First Alert 4.
Brown was rushed to the hospital in important situation earlier than he succumbed to his accidents on Wednesday afternoon.
“Colin — a beloved and proficient hockey participant — handed away however not earlier than giving the last word reward of life,” St. Louis Metro Police Division Director of Public Affairs Mitch McCoy mentioned. “Colin’s organs had been donated to different sufferers who had been in determined want. This donation is an instance of the kind of younger man Colin was and the sort of household he grew up in.”
Brown joined CBCHS, one among Missouri’s most elite hockey highschool packages, after transferring from Illinois within the fall. He was seven video games into the season together with his new college.
“He was a proficient and devoted pupil who was enrolled in Honors programs, and he was a invaluable member of our CBC Varsity Hockey staff,” CBCHS mentioned in a press release.
McCoy mentioned police obtained quite a few reviews from motorists and close by residents over the gunfire.
Police consider there was a rolling gunfight because the Browns traveled in the other way, in keeping with Fox 2.
Detectives are reviewing newly acquired footage from the realm as they hunt for the suspected shooter.
“The sort of violence is just not going to be tolerated by us,” McCoy mentioned. “We would like individuals to really feel secure driving on the interstate and town of St. Louis.
“To have a 16-year-old boy who simply left a hockey sport get shot is extremely uncommon. You don’t hear about circumstances of harmless bystanders being hit by stray bullets right here. When these acts of violence happen, we’ll put the whole weight of this police division into discovering who did it to verify they’re held accountable.”
The NHL’s St. Louis Blues teaching employees wore “72 Robust” pins honoring Brown’s uniform quantity and left a hockey stick outdoors their locker room earlier than their sport Wednesday evening.
Calvin Brown expressed his gratitude to the St. Louis Police and Illinois State Police for “their continued efforts in apprehending the perpetrator(s) of this mindless crime towards our beloved son, Colin” however mentioned that St. Louis officers ought to make “better efforts” to assist police.
“As a household and as a former legislation enforcement official with over 28 years of expertise, we consider that better efforts are wanted within the Metropolis of St. Louis and the encircling area to assist the police and equip them with the required instruments to fight such mindless, violent gun crimes,” Brown mentioned on Sunday.
Town of St. Louis noticed 106 homicides via August 2024, a slight lower from the earlier yr (109), in keeping with officers.
Officers boasted in regards to the almost 40 % lower in homicides since St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones took workplace in April 2021.
“The dying of Colin Brown is devastating information for our entire group,” Jones mentioned. “We had been all praying for a miracle and at the moment are overwhelmed with grief, disappointment, and anger that this harmless teenager’s life has been taken. Because the mom of a teenage son, I grieve with all who knew and beloved this man.”
Supply hyperlink