Shutdown of St. Louis’ ‘Murder Shell’ Offers Guide for Neighbors of Nuisances

The infamous "Murder Shell" gas station in downtown St. Louis is set to close this summer, in part thanks to a little-used state law that attorneys say could be a road map to remedying other nuisances in an expedited manner — and citizens taking action rather than waiting for city leaders.

For decades, the gas station on Tucker Boulevard near Washington Avenue in Downtown West has been a haven for violent crime and open-air drug dealing. According to court filings made in one of the lawsuits against it, the police have received more than 6,000 calls to the Shell since 1990, and the service station has been the site of at least 21 shootings. Last year, an argument that began at the Shell spilled down the street and resulted in an open-air execution that made national headlines.

The gas station's closure, which will happen on August 1, is the result of two lawsuits filed against it in recent years.

The neighborhood improvement association for Downtown West filed the first one in July 2021, arguing that city ordinances forbade gas stations from operating in the downtown central business district and sought to pull its operating permits. In addition to the legal fight against the gas station owners, the neighborhood improvement association faced pushback from the city itself, which was named as a defendant — and actually argued against the request to eliminate the gas station’s operating permits. (They lost.)

A second lawsuit, brought by people who own property nearby, argued the business was a nuisance. That lawsuit was filed last October, with the property owners being represented by former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Paul Puricelli. (Puricelli also filed the suit on behalf of the neighborhood association, too.)

It was brought under a little-used state law that applies only to St. Louis and Kansas City and allows anyone who lives or owns property within 1,200 feet of a nuisance property to sue to remedy the situation.

"That law was a vital tool in our tool chest to get the action that was necessary to make a safer neighborhood," Nixon says.

Both Nixon and Puricelli say that suits brought under this state law could be a playbook for others in the city who have to deal with nuisance properties nearby and want to deal with them in a timely manner.

The City of St. Louis recently proactively filed suit against a group of locals running what it called an illegal rooming house scheme. But the deeply researched legal case was something of a rarity in a city that’s all too often playing defense even as citizens beg for enforcement action. The Murder Shell shutdown suggests, as long as lawyers are willing to take the case, citizens have tools to do the enforcement work themselves.

"If I were to be a commentator on this, I would say certainly cases like this are the first of what could be a trend of the tool being used," says Nixon, who joined the firm Dowd Bennett after leaving the governorship. "You can go after personal damages if you win on this."

In addition to allowing individuals to sue nuisance property owners for damages, they can also sue for attorneys’ fees.

"It really is at a level that as a defendant in one of these situations, you just want to clean things up and get it right to avoid a lawsuit," says Nixon.

He adds that a tool like this could be more important than ever, especially with, as he puts it, "the Wall Street Journal bringing the hammer down" on downtown St. Louis earlier this week.

Puricelli adds that the wording of the law requires that the court give the suits expedited attention. The lawsuit brought under the state law against the Shell station was filed less than six months ago.

"I think it's good that this is getting out there and people know about it," Puricelli says. "People should use it if they're faced with a nuisance of this kind or any kind."

In addition to the Murder Shell's closure, the lot will also be subject to a deed restriction, meaning that the property cannot house a convenience store going forward.

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