St. LOUIS COUNTY — County police chased a shooting suspect about four miles north into the city's Mount Pleasant neighborhood after a man was shot early Tuesday at a QuikTrip in south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County.
Officers were called just before 5 a.m. to the 700 block of Lemay Ferry Road, said ºüÀêÊÓƵ County police Sgt. Tracy Panus.
They found a man inside the QuikTrip who had been shot and the suspect was outside in a car in the parking lot, Panus said.
When officers approached the vehicle, the man drove off and police pursued the car, Panus said. The chase ended in a single-car crash at Ohio Avenue and South Broadway in the city.
Panus said the suspect was uninjured and officers arrested him. He was later identified as 22-year-old Matthew Leibach.
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Leibach was charged with first-degree assault, armed criminal action, unlawful possession of a firearm and resisting arrest. He was in custody Tuesday afternoon on a $100,000 cash-only bond.Â
The man who was shot in his arm and chest is in his twenties, according to Lt. Jason Brice with Lemay First Department. He is expected to survive.
No one else was injured.Â
Officers believe the shooting occurred during an argument between the two people, who knew each other prior to the shooting.Â
Police chases in both the city and county have been a contentious issue within the last year.
The city has been named in at least five lawsuits this year involving people who were injured or killed in police chases. Meanwhile, the policy debate has focused on when exactly a police interaction turns into a pursuit and what should be done to reduce their frequency.
In May, after seven people died during pursuits in a 15-day span in ºüÀêÊÓƵ and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, the NAACP pulled in a federal mediator to set parameters for when police chases are warranted.