ST. LOUIS • A shootout between police and a suspect late Thursday night ended when officers shot and killed the man who fired at them during a chase.
No police officers were injured, St. Louis police Capt. Michael Sack said early Friday morning.
Police identified the dead man as Edward Irons, 34, of the 6400 block of Evergreen Boulevard in Berkeley.
Irons' criminal record includes a second-degree murder conviction in 1998 in St. Louis. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting a man to death during a drug transaction, Irons was on supervision after being paroled on July 22, 2010, the Missouri Department of Corrections said.
Irons was killed at about 10:30 p.m. in the 1400 block of Burd Avenue, about a block south of Martin Luther King Drive. Five St. Louis police officers, four from the rapid deployment unit and one district detective, fired shots during a chase. Three bullets struck a police car in the shootout, Sack said.
Irons died at the scene. His body, blocked from view by barriers, was on the sidewalk near the Friendly Village Apartments. At the scene, officers recovered the suspect's Tech-9 semi-automatic handgun, which had an extension attached, Sack said.
Friendly Village Apartments has 111 units for seniors 62 and older, said apartment complex manager Michelle Jones. She said she lives nearby, heard "lots and lots" of gunshots and began receiving telephone calls about the incident. Then she stopped by the apartment complex and made sure all residents were safe, Jones said.
The incident began when two uniformed officers with the rapid deployment unit pulled over a car on Belt Avenue a few blocks north of Martin Luther King Drive. The car had been going the wrong way down a one-way street, police say.
RECOUNT OF EVENTS:
The officers got out of their squad car, and the driver sped off, Sack said.
Officers got back in their car and began chasing him. They discovered that the car had crashed onto the sidewalk and into a fence on Martin Luther King, across from the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church. Officers spotted the man running east on MLK and ran after him.
The man then shot at the officers, who returned fire, Sack said. Assisting officers arrived, and the gunfire continued between police and the suspect. With officers in pursuit, the man ran through a parking lot and an alley, still exchanging shots with police. The man then ran south on Burd Avenue, where at least one bullet fired by the officers struck him.
Sack said he did not yet know how many shots were fired during the gun fight.
Police didn't identify the officers by name but described the ones who fired their weapons as:
* A 34-year-old male officer who has been with the department for five years and is assigned to the Rapid Deployment Unit.
* A 27-year-old male officer who has been with the department for four years and is assigned to the Rapid Deployment Unit.
* A 31-year-old male officer who has been with the department for five years years and is assigned to the Rapid Deployment Unit.
* A 34-year-old male officer who has been with the department for three years and is assigned to the Rapid Deployment Unit.
* A 27-year-old female officer who has been with the department for five years and is assigned to the Seventh District.
Court records show that Irons pleaded guilty in 1998 of second-degree murder in St. Louis Circuit Court. Irons had originally been charged with first-degree murder.
The case involved the death of Antwone Kennedy, 22, of the 4300 block of Potomac Street. Kennedy was fatally shot in the head during a drug transaction in the gangway of an apartment building in the 4600 block of South Spring Avenue. After shooting Kennedy, the killer went through his pockets and fled on a mountain bike.
Kim Bell and Joel Currier of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this report.
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