Gunfire near Alaska Park in Carondelet has become so routine that neighbors say they now treat nightfall like a curfew. Surveillance video and residents' accounts describe shots ringing out late this week, with families ducking inside, steering clear of common areas and watching stray bullets hit close to home. The uptick has people on the block calling for more officers on the streets and a clearer plan to keep the area safe.
Surveillance footage captured gunfire near the park around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the latest incident that neighbors say fits a near-nightly pattern. “It happens almost nightly,” resident Brendan Nunemacher said, while Sam Phillips told reporters he has called police roughly four times this week. Jessica Gardner said her husband’s truck now has three bullet holes and that their family avoids the living room after 8 p.m. These accounts were reported by First Alert 4.
Real-time response
Neighbors said a Real Time Crime Center unit was set up in the area the morning after the Tuesday shooting, a step they hope will be enough to discourage the next round of gunfire. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department operates a 24/7 Real Time Crime Center that pulls together city and private camera feeds, license-plate readers and gunshot-detection sensors to support officers in the field, according to the SLMPD. Alaska Park is located near the corner of Koeln and Alaska Avenue in south St. Louis, per the City of St. Louis parks department.
Neighborhood context
Residents note that Carondelet has dealt with violent incidents before, which is part of why this latest streak of gunfire feels less like a fluke and more like a recurring problem. Local outlets have documented earlier shootings and serious crimes in the neighborhood, feeding a sense that the same story keeps repeating. An earlier item detailed a 2025 Carondelet shooting that left a man critically wounded, underscoring long-running worries in the area; that case was covered as a 2025 shooting that left a man critically wounded.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police told reporters they will review patrol patterns and adjust plans when a particular type of crime starts to climb, and they urged residents to keep reporting what they see so the department can use that data to target resources. That guidance was relayed to First Alert 4. For now, neighbors say stepped-up patrols and community vigilance feel like the main things standing between their families and another round of late-night shots.
Residents say they simply want to feel like their block is theirs again and hope that a mix of police presence and neighborhood action will be enough to quiet the gunfire. “We want our neighborhood back,” one neighbor said, a line that several families have echoed as they keep an eye on the streets after dusk. Neighbors and police both say anyone with video or information about the recent shootings should come forward so investigators can follow up on potential leads.
