Texas Couple Charged in I-170 Shooting Death of 17-Year-Old McCluer North Senior
CLAYTON — St. Louis County prosecutors in Missouri announced at an October 19 news conference at the county courthouse in Clayton that a married couple from Arlington, Texas, has been charged in last week's Interstate 170 shooting: Willie Herndon, 42, faces charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action and is held on a $1 million cash-only bond; his wife, Taiya Herndon, 45, is charged with hindering prosecution for allegedly driving him to Illinois after the shooting, with bond set at $500,000 cash-only.
Police said that on Wednesday evening a white Buick Enclave SUV pulled onto the shoulder of southbound I-170 south of St. Charles Rock Road, and Willie Herndon got out and fired a single shot that struck 17-year-old Alyssa Wilson as she drove past. Her car crashed near Midland Boulevard in Overland, and she later died at a hospital. Wilson, a senior and student-athlete at McCluer North High School, was driving to meet a friend at the St. Louis Zoo.
Investigators used surveillance video and license-plate readers to trace the SUV to a hotel in Caseyville, Illinois, where they recovered a firearm consistent with the one used at the scene. Wilson's foster father, Robert Hickman, said at the news conference: "This is a senseless act." He said Wilson was 60 days from her 18th birthday. Prosecutors have not released a motive, and investigators say there is no indication of road rage; according to federal court documents, Willie Herndon is also a suspect in a separate shooting days earlier near Bates Avenue in St. Louis. (GSM, based on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 圣路易斯 Gateway Arch（资料图，本案无公开现场图）。Lewis Hulbert 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。The Gateway Arch in St. Louis (file photo; no scene photo released). Photo by Lewis Hulbert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
