ST. LOUIS — An anonymous tipline is offering $25,000 rewards over the next week for information leading to arrests in the recent shooting deaths of young children in the city.
City officials announced the offer Saturday, a day after Jurnee Thompson, 8, was shot and killed outside a restaurant near Soldan High School.
Mayor Lyda Krewson said the rewards are only offered until Sept. 1 to urge tipsters to call at 1-866-371-8477 with what they know as soon as possible. The usual reward is up to $5,000 for helpful tips.
"This is urgent," Krewson said at a news conference at ºüÀêÊÓƵ police headquarters. "Right now we hope we that we will be able to get information to police today, tomorrow, Monday."
The reward money was donated by local philanthropists Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield. They "were particularly moved and concerned about the homicide and deaths of the youngsters in our community," said Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards.
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Edwards pleaded for the public's help. "If you or someone else you know may be hiding a shooter, please turn them in," Edwards said. "Your failure to turn in people that have committed these type of offenses may also cause you to be charged with a crime."
The latest shooting happened Friday night after fights broke out at a football exhibition at Soldan.Â
Jurnee, of the 6900 block of Alberici Avenue in Northwoods, became the 12th child shot and killed in ºüÀêÊÓƵ since April.
For the rewards, ºüÀêÊÓƵ Police Chief John Hayden listed her case and three other unsolved murders involving children ages 10 and younger:
• Kayden Johnson, 2, who was killed with his mother on April 30 as they hid from intruders in a hallway closet in their home in the 5900 block of Ferris Avenue.
• Kennedi Powell, 3, shot June 9 as she stood eating pizza on a sidewalk in front of her home in the 4600 block of Michigan Avenue.
• Eddie Hill IV, 10, shot from a passing vehicle July 19 as stood with his family on the front porch of his home in the 4700 block of Page Boulevard.
Jurnee was fatally shot about 8 p.m. Friday outside Harold's Chop Suey, a restaurant two blocks north of Soldan, shortly after football games at the school ended with fights breaking out among the crowds.Â
Two 16-year-old boys and a 64-year-old woman were also shot, police said in a report released Saturday. The boys were seriously wounded; they and the woman were listed in stable condition Saturday at a hospital.Â
Jurnee was at Soldan watching games with her family, police said. Fights broke out among the crowds as people were exiting the stadium.Â
An officer at the school called at 7:17 p.m. for backup in dispersing the fights, and police from the surrounding area responded, police said. The officers were dispersing the crowds shortly after 8 p.m. when several gunshots were heard just north of the school.Â
Responding officers found Jurnee and the three other shooting victims in the parking lot of Harold's Chop Suey in the 1100 block of Union Boulevard, police said. Jurnee was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
"Little Jurnee Thompson was shot to death as she stood in front of a restaurant with family members awaiting their food order," Hayden said. She and at least two others she was with were cousins, he added.Â
Jurnee was a student at Herzog Elementary School, said Meredith Pierce, a spokeswoman for ºüÀêÊÓƵ Public Schools. The two 16-year-old boys are students at McKinley High School.
Counselors will be at the schools help support students, ºüÀêÊÓƵ Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams said Saturday. Earlier in the day, he attended a funeral for Xavier Usanga, 7, who was fatally shot Aug. 12, a day before he was to start school at Clay Elementary. A man being held on other charges has admitted to the shooting, according to court documents.
“The challenges the Usanga family have been going through the last 12 days, that’s going to be repeated for yet another family,†Adams said. “I don’t know that there are words to explain how difficult it is for the families that are hurting, and the impact this has on the community.â€
The police chief said shortly after the shooting Friday that detectives took an undisclosed number of people into custody after the shooting for questioning, and he pleaded for the public's assistance in the investigation.
The CrimeStoppers tipline is answered 24 hours a day. The information is passed on to police anonymously. Tips can also be left online at .
ºüÀêÊÓƵ homicide detectives can also be called directly at 314-444-5371.
"It cannot be that people are more concerned about what will happen to them if they come forward with the police," Hayden said. "It's what will happen to little children if you don't."
Coverage of children who died in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area in 2019
These are the local incidents of homicide or neglect involving children, based on Post-Dispatch reporting. This list doesn't include children killed in car accidents (unless a criminal charge was filed) or incidents not being investigated by homicide detectives.
A body that was found over the weekend in the parking lot of an East ºüÀêÊÓƵ middle school was identified Monday as that of a 13-year-old boy.
Police in Ferguson found two teen boys, ages 15 and 16, who both had been shot, inside a vehicle about 12:45 p.m. The older teen was seriously…
Sylvester Knighten Jr., 31, and the boy’s mother Danesha Cannamore, 31, were both arrested when police responded Wednesday to a call for an un…
The father of a 2-year-old girl killed in an accidental shooting in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County this week is accused of leaving a loaded gun in a d…
Caleb Smith, was gunned down Wednesday in an alley in the 8300 block of Strathmore Place.
At 9:20 a.m., East St Louis police drove to the John de Shields Housing Complex, 1235 McCasland Avenue, after reports of a shooting.Â
Tavares Chisholm, 4, of ºüÀêÊÓƵ, was hit and killed by a car as his mother pushed him and a 2-year-old in a stroller. A 27-year-old was char…
A 15-year-old boy was gunned down before sunup when someone fired a flurry of shots into a home in the north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County area of Glasgow …
The shooting happened shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday near the 11100 block of Oak Parkway Lane, as the teen walked through an apartment complex …
A 3-year-old boy fatally shot himself after finding a gun in the Laurel Park apartments north of Jennings, police said.
He was found shot in the head just before 6 a.m. in the 7300 block of Vermont Avenue in the Carondelet neighborhood of south ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
Police confirmed that a 10-year-old girl was among three people killed on the 700 block of North 21st Street around 6:30 p.m. The other victim…
Mayor Lyda Krewson urged tipsters to call CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-8477. The usual reward is up to $5,000 for helpful tips.
The shooting occurred about a block north of Soldan High School, where a football exhibition was held Friday night. Fights broke out at the ev…
The mayhem has left brass begging for leads, politicians promising change, and parents at wits’ end: frustrated by lackluster investigations, …
Officers found Jason Eberhart Jr. dead in a parking lot in the 1300 block of Hogan Street around 2 a.m. Police said he was shot several times.Â
Taylor Jordan Baumer, 20, of the 1000 block of Adworth Drive in Mehlville, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the fir…
The day before he was to start as a second grader at Clay Elementary, Xavier Usanga was fatally shot while standing near an 18-year-old who wa…
He was inside an apartment with a group of teenagers when he was shot. He was found dead soon after.
Eddie was shot about 8:30 p.m. at a home in the 4700 block of Page Boulevard near the intersection with Marcus Avenue, police said. He was sit…
Was found shot to death inside a vehicle at a gas station at 4355 South Broadway; a 16-year-old in the car was not injured.
Robert Michael “R.J.â€Â Dorsey, was shot about 9:15 p.m. in the 800 block of Vegas Drive, in south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County. He was shot in the torso an…
Two teens and one adult were shot about 7:30 p.m. in the 1500 block of Fourth Street in Madison. One of the teenagers died of his wounds.
Police found him lying in the street about 3 a.m. Tuesday with multiple gunshot wounds in the 44000 block of Cupples Place. He died the next day.
Michael Henderson Jr., 15, of Centreville was shot in the 800 block of East 15th Street. Police responded to the scene at 2:37 p.m.Â
Myiesha Cannon, 16, was shot in the head about 1:25 a.m. in the 4400 block of Lexington Avenue. Police have labeled the shooting as a "suspici…
Police are labeling the case a "suspicious death" and released no additional details. Her mother said she found a 9 mm pistol and accidentally…
Kennedi Powell and her neighborhood friends had just swarmed her father’s car for a piece of pizza Sunday evening when a white car drove past,…
Jashon Johnson, of the 2700 block of Allen Avenue, was shot several times near Red Bud and Margaretta, police said.
The parents of a baby girl who died last week after being left inside a hot car in Calverton Park were charged with manslaughter Monday.
Kristina Curry, 16, was found dead just before 5 a.m. Thursday on a rear parking lot at Roosevelt High School at 3230 Hartford Street, police said.Â
Jaylon McKenzie, 14, an eighth grader at Mason-Clark Middle School in East ºüÀêÊÓƵ who was featured in Sports Illustrated as one of six youn…
A St. John woman left three young children alone for several hours and came home to find her 4-month-old son dead, prosecutors say. She was ch…
Kayden Johnson, 2, and his mother Trina’ty Riley, 18, were found dead with gunshot wounds shortly before midnight in their home in the 5900 bl…
Curtis Marshall, 15, was the victim of a targeted shooting in the 1700 block of Cargill Drive, police said.Â
Police initially called the shooting a "suspicious death," but later said they had concluded Evione accidentally shot himself in the 1700 bloc…
Malik Moore, 17, was shot in the 100 block of Chambers Road about 2:50 p.m., authorities said. He lived on the same block, just west of Riverv…
Demarco Washington, 32, of the 10700 block of Spring Garden Drive in the Glasgow Village area, was charged with a felony count of child endang…
Elijah Roby, 2, died in a car accident. His mother, Ebony Roby, 25, was charged with first-degree child endangerment in connection with the case.