MUGSHOT VIA STL CITY JUSTICE CENTER
Freddie Lee Doyle.
Update, Friday: According to St. Louis Police, the suspect arrested early Thursday morning in the Grove aimed an AR-15 rifle at three people standing just outside Rehab Bar & Grill.
The arresting officer, Jonathan Monserrate, wrote in a probable cause statement that "Freddy Doyle" — it's not clear why the spelling is different here from other public records — first approached the three victims and "[called] out to them to gain their attention" before firing a shot into the air.
That shot alerted Monserrate and his partner, who were patrolling nearby.
Citing Rehab's surveillance, Monserrate wrote that Doyle could be seen "walking with an AR-15 assault rifle, aim[ing] it at the victims, and then fir[ing] a shot." From there, the footage apparently showed Doyle dropping the rifle next to a car, walking off-frame and then returning in a car to park near the rifle — "Presumably," Monserrate noted, "to pick it back up."
Before Doyle could do that, however, officers rushed in to arrest him. During a search of Doyle's vehicle, officers discovered a bag of meth and "two additional extended magazines and additional rounds of ammunition." Another officer also recovered a shell casing on the scene from an AR-15 rifle.
According to online court records, Doyle is being held without bond on the order of St. Louis Circuit Judge Barbara Peebles.
Original story continues below.
An Overland man is facing criminal charges after a frightening incident in the Grove in the early hours this morning.
Freddie Lee Doyle, 31, was arrested shortly after 3 a.m. today on three counts of first-degree assault, three counts of armed criminal action, illegal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a firearm, authorities at the St. Louis City Justice Center say.
The charges appear to stem from an incident that took place just before that, in which police say an unnamed male fired shots into the air after an argument with another male. In a statement, SLMPD spokeswoman Michelle Woodling said that officers patrolling the area heard shots being fired, and an investigation "led to a 31-year old white male being taken into custody near Manchester and Sarah and a firearm being recovered."
Woodling added, "No one was struck by gunfire."
People in the neighborhood, however, were left terrified by the late-night shootout. One witness (who asked not to be identified) says the sound of gunshots could be heard near the intersection of South Sarah Street and Manchester Avenue — right next to Rehab Bar & Grill and Attitudes Nightclub, two popular gay bars in the Grove neighborhood.
To the witness, it wasn't clear what set the shooter off — much less who (or what) his target may have been. After hearing the gunshots, the witness says a St. Louis Police car sped down Manchester and intercepted a man running away. When the witness next saw the suspect, he was being pulled out of a police van and screaming, "I'm innocent, I'm innocent, I was only running away from the gunshots."
Afterwards, the witness says they saw officers carrying heavy black bags and depositing them in a paddy wagon.
Earlier this afternoon, an employee of Rehab posted a photo of Doyle on her personal Facebook page and wrote that he'd been a patron at the bar prior to the shooting, even leaving a $10 tip on a $16 bill. In the Facebook post (which appears to have since been deleted), the employee alleged that Doyle had fired an assault rifle after leaving the bar, and that officers subsequently "found another gun and a lot of ammo in his car."
Reached by Facebook, the owner of Rehab declined to comment.
According to court records, Doyle was also the subject of a protective order sought by a roommate in April. A judgement issued April 29 in St. Louis County court concluded that the roommate had provided sufficient evidence of "domestic assault, stalking and/or sexual assault" and granted the order.
Editor's note: The story and its headline were both updated after publication to include statements from an SLMPD spokeswoman and probable cause report.
Follow Danny Wicentowski on Twitter at @D_Towski. E-mail the author at [email protected]
