ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is investigating a homicide early Friday morning. It comes on the day officers are beginning 12-hour weekend shifts, in an effort to slow the spike in summer violence.
The homicide is an example of the type of crime those officers on 12-hour shifts will be working to prevent.
The homicide happened outside of a house in the 8900 block of Newby Street. Investigators say police got a call shortly before 12:30 a.m. for a shooting.
When officers arrived, police found a man in his 30s or 40s who had been shot multiple times and died from his injuries.
Officers were searching the area for witnesses and looking for any security video that will help in the investigation.
At the scene, St. Louis police Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie Robinson said, “It’s another tragedy. Gun violence is prevalent. We have to do something to stop it. We’re battling every night, every day to try to find our solutions to try to stop this gun violence.”
The announcement about 12-hour shifts came in May. Former St. Louis Metro Police Chief John Hayden said it was part of the city’s summer anti-violence initiative. Hayden said the change is because of staffing shortages and officers are expected to work the extended shifts through September.
Weeks ago, when city officials announced their new summertime anti-violence strategy, interim police chief Lt. Col. Michael Sach said, “As a result of the 12-hour shifts, police will have an increased number of staff between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m., which is essentially the window when police face the most issues – whether it’s cruising, traffic violations or violent crime.”
Police officials say the department is currently down 127 officers from its authorized strength of 1,224 officers.
The St. Louis Board of Alderman expressed concern over the mandatory 12-hour shifts after the change was announced.
"Officers, because we don't pay them enough, doing extra duty and now you're increasing their hours to 12 hours a day. It concerns me with their safety, and their judgment and their stress level," 14th Ward Alderwoman Carol Howard said back in May.