Devion Chester, Suspect in 2016 St. Louis Double Homicide, in Custody in Kentucky

Dec 20, 2018 at 10:27 am
"Suspect 1" and an accomplice ambushed four men, killing two during a midday shooting in north St. Louis, police say. - Image via St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
Image via St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
"Suspect 1" and an accomplice ambushed four men, killing two during a midday shooting in north St. Louis, police say.

A St. Louis man has been charged in a terrifying July 4, 2016 double murder.

Devion Chester, 27, was one of two gunmen, wearing white gloves and armed with assault rifles, who ambushed four men in north city. Chester and his accomplice killed two of them and badly wounded a third, police say.

He is now in custody in McCracken County, Kentucky, according to court records. Paducah police officers arrested him there on a variety of traffic charges, including operating a vehicle under the influence.

The 2016 attack in St. Louis was caught on camera. In the video — portions were released by police — the victims pulled up in a Buick Rendezvous and parked outside a small market on Page Boulevard in the Vandeventer neighborhood. Two men got out and headed for the store. A few seconds later, a red Dodge Charger turned onto the block.

Police now say Chester and another shooter popped out of the Charger and opened fire on the four victims.

One of the gunmen blasted the Buick, hitting 31-year-old Samuel Jackson and 21-year-old Jamie Conner. The other shooter chased DeShawn Owens and another man who'd already gotten out of the Buick.

Owens was shot in the stomach and stumbled into the store, but the other man escaped.
This is the second shooter in the July 4, 2016 double murder, police say. - Image via St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
Image via St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department
This is the second shooter in the July 4, 2016 double murder, police say.

Jackson and Conner crawled out of the Buick, but they didn't make it far. The gunman who shot Owens returned and blasted them while they lay on the ground, police say. Both were dead when officers arrived.

Owens survived the ambush and was able to identify one of the shooters as "D-Blood." That's Chester, according to a probable cause statement.

Chester is now facing six felonies, including two counts of first-degree murder. He has yet to be extradited to St. Louis. The second shooter is still on the loose.


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