ST. LOUIS 鈥 A spate of shootings and illegal fireworks activities following Fourth of July celebrations downtown has reignited criticism that the city isn鈥檛 doing enough to prevent mass disturbances and gun violence.
But police Chief Robert Tracy blamed the holiday chaos on 鈥渟ome individuals鈥 who were a small percentage of the thousands out that night. He added that police responded quickly.
鈥淲e were able to contain it and mitigate it and move people on safely,鈥 he said.
The illegal fireworks and shootings both happened around midnight Thursday, two hours after official celebrations ended. The incidents over the entire weekend included shootings downtown that killed one person and wounded multiple others.
Some downtown community leaders now say that Mayor Tishaura O. Jones鈥 office and Tracy were unprepared for the holiday weekend and the potential for violence. The events were expected to drive questions at a Downtown Neighborhood Association public forum Monday night with Tracy, Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore and representatives of Jones鈥 office.
People are also reading…
Jones called the July 4 violence a 鈥渢ragedy鈥 and attributed the violence to 鈥渢oo many guns on our streets.鈥
鈥淢y heart goes out to all of the victims, their families, and the entire 狐狸视频 community,鈥 Jones said. 鈥淭he simple fact is this: there are too many guns on our streets. A small group of individuals with easy access to firearms have put a cloud over a day when thousands of residents got to enjoy their Fourth of July in downtown 狐狸视频 safely.鈥
Those comments didn鈥檛 satisfy critics who characterized Jones鈥 and public safety leaders鈥 response to the incident as a security failure.
Citizens for a Greater Downtown 狐狸视频 said in a statement this weekend that witnesses saw groups of young people carrying 鈥渂ackpacks full of illegal fireworks鈥 gathering in Kiener Plaza early before the official fair, Celebrate 狐狸视频, and then shoot fireworks into the crowd as soon as the show ended.
鈥淲e acknowledge that staffing is short and the demands are great, especially on the holiday, but we can鈥檛 invite 50,000 guests downtown and then allow their safety to be threatened to the point that they vow never to come back,鈥 the group wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. 鈥淐ity leadership and SLMPD continue to minimize this continued violence downtown and refuse to be accountable for addressing these problems.鈥
Alderwoman Cara Spencer, who represents part of downtown 狐狸视频, said Jones鈥 statement was 鈥渃ompletely dismissive of the seriousness of what took place.鈥 Spencer is challenging Jones in the 2025 mayoral election.
鈥淭o sum this up as just a few bad actors is dismissive of the fact we have let our downtown become a gathering spot for violent behavior on a regular basis,鈥 Spencer said.
Tracy said criticism of the police ignores the heavy call volumes police responded to on July 4 and throughout the weekend. Police responded to more than 3,000 calls for disturbances or emergencies during that period. They also made more than 30 arrests and recovered multiple firearms and scores of illegal fireworks, he said.
He declined to say how many police officers were staffing the July 4 holiday but said patrols included both uniformed and plain-clothed officers. 鈥淭here was enforcement out there to keep the peace,鈥 he said.
狐狸视频 police said at least 20 shootings were reported citywide from Thursday through Sunday.
Four people were shot near Eighth and Pine streets after midnight Thursday. About the same time, a 13-year-old boy from Florissant was shot near Seventh and Chestnut streets.
Two 23-year-old men, both from north 狐狸视频 County, also showed up at a hospital with gunshot wounds. They had been hit by gunfire near Seventh and Chestnut streets as well. The men told police they had been watching people shoot off illegal fireworks when they were shot.
On Saturday evening, a 15-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet as he walked near Memorial Plaza on Market Street near Stifel Theatre. Early Sunday, two people were shot in an apparent robbery in the Kiener West parking garage on Chestnut Street. About 2 a.m. Sunday, a man was shot to death in the 4400 block of Grace. Two other people, a man and woman in their 20s, went to the hospital on their own with gunshot wounds from that incident, police said.
Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, who represents parts of downtown and north 狐狸视频, attributed the shooting on the holiday to Missouri鈥檚 lax gun control laws.
鈥淓ven if you have a police officer on every corner, state law ties our hands to really try to hold people who have guns accountable,鈥 Aldridge said.