3 shot in night of violence for StL

UPDATED, 10:30 a.m.

A motorist was shot and critically wounded early today in St. Louis, the last of three shootings in a three-hour period.

The driver, 19, was being fired upon near Wells and Arlington avenues about 3 a.m. today. He was shot several times before crashing his car. The young man is expected to die, and St. Louis homicide detectives were called in.

After being hit, the driver struck a parked car and overturned in the 5000 block of Martin Luther King Drive. A 14-year-old girl riding with him was hurt in the crash. Her name and injuries were not disclosed.

St. Louis police say two other men were shot in separate shootings.

About 12:10 a.m., a 22-year-old man was siting in a car in front of a home in the 1200 block of Amherst Place, talking with his girlfriend. An older man with a shotgun walked out of the house and fired a shot at the girlfriend's car.


The boyfriend confronted the gunman, quarreling with him on the front steps. The gunman then shot the boyfriend in the chest. Police say he was in critical but stable condition at an area hospital. The neighbor was arrested for assault.

At 2:10 a.m., a man, 27, was shot in a drive-by shooting in the 2000 block of Obear Street. The victim was walking in that block when three men drove by in a pickup, heading south on 20th Street, police say.

The front passenger pointed a handgun out the window and opened fire. He was hit in the thigh and left bicep. One of the bullets traveled into his chest, police say. The victim ran to his sister's house for help. He was listed in serious but stable condition today at an area hospital.

The pickup is described only as a newer model white Chevy pickup. No words on any arrests.