By Rowan Behm, Mason Dare and Coffee Clark
The Scene staff
Editor’s note: This story was updated Oct. 2 to provide additional information.
St. Louis police shot and killed a man in an office building half a block from the Forest Park campus on Sept. 25.
The 5700 block of Oakland Avenue was filled with patrol cars and blocked off with yellow tape for hours.
The man, who appeared to be having a “mental-health crisis,” stabbed himself in the neck before an officer shot him, according to Major Janice Bockstruck, speaking at a news conference.
Police later released a statement, identifying the man as Gregory Maxwell, 37, of Springfield, Illinois, and clarifying that he had a pair of scissors, not a knife.
“We actually believe he was staying at the hotel next door,” Bockstruck said at the news conference, referring to the Hampton Inn & Suites, which is just west of the Forest Park campus.
Police responded to a 911 call about 2:35 p.m. on Sept. 25. Many students and employees had no idea what was happening until 4:20 p.m., when St. Louis Community College sent a text alert.
According to Forest Park President Julie Fickas, campus police didn’t send an alert right away because they were waiting for more details and St. Louis police had told them that students were safe.
“A shooting occurred on the 5700 block of Oakland near STLCC-Forest Park,” the alert read. “STLCC is not in danger. Police are on the scene. Check your STLCC email for details.”
Automotive technology professor Josh Walker, who was teaching a class in the garage on the west side of campus, said he learned of the shooting from the STLCC alert. He hadn’t heard any shots fired.
Cybersecurity major Charles Buckner, 21, didn’t see the alert, but his mother called and told him about the shooting, which had been reported by TV stations.
“That’s crazy,” he said.
Nursing major Seriya Bereeland, 18, said she’s used to violence in other parts of St. Louis, but she was “shocked” to hear of a shooting in the Forest Park neighborhood.
“Nothing really happens over here,” she said.
“It’s really terrifying, but normal,” said general transfer studies student Juliette Grill, 18.
At the news conference, Bockstruck told reporters that:
- Police received a report of man who appeared to be having a mental-health crisis about 2:35 p.m. in an office building.
- The man was walking around the third floor with a puppy and sitting in people’s office chairs.
- Officers confronted the man, who produced a knife and began stabbing the puppy.
Police stand watch on Oakland Avenue, which was closed for hours due to an officer-involved shooting. Office workers wait outside after being evacuated from the building. - An officer tased the man, but he escaped down a stairwell to the second floor.
- The man began stabbing himself in the neck and refused to comply with several orders by another officer to drop the knife.
- That officer, a 15-year police veteran, felt his life was in danger and shot the man, who was transported to Barnes-Jewish Hospital and pronounced dead.
- The puppy was taken to the Humane Society of Missouri. No police officers were injured. The shooting is under investigation.
“(The police officers) are hurting,” Bockstruck said. “They are grieving, but they are professional, and they will continue to do what they have to do to protect the citizens of this city.”
Bockstruck noted that the office building was full of people working on that Wednesday afternoon.