Early on Friday morning, a confrontation at St. Louis Lambert International Airport resulted in the fatal shooting of Darius Kennedy, a 31-year-old man from Peoria. According to 25 News Now, during a routine security check at Terminal 1 around 1 AM, Kennedy was found with a knife and did not comply when police officers ordered him to drop the weapon.
Kennedy's failure to surrender the knife led one officer to deploy a taser, which was unsuccessful in subduing him, putting the officers in a situation where they felt threatened, and another officer resorted to using their firearm as Kennedy continued moving toward them, which resulted in his death; no other injuries were reported in the incident. The man lived his last known days in Peoria on West Trewyn Avenue, as detailed in the police statement.
The identity of the deceased was made public on the following Monday morning. Fox 2 Now confirmed Kennedy's name and age, reporting that the shooting, per se, had taken place within Terminal One.
The St. Louis County Police Department oversaw the immediate response to the incident, and later the Bureau of Crimes Against Persons assumed responsibility for the investigation to decipher the events that led to what one officer's use of deadly force. Kennedy was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the accounts from local authorities.
