A 62-year-old man is being held without bond after police say he stabbed another man in the face during a confrontation in a parking lot near North 14th Street and Cass Avenue, just north of downtown St. Louis. Al Spencer faces felony charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action stemming from the August 6 incident, according to court records.
The victim had been walking outside a smoke shop near North 14th Street and Cass Avenue when the confrontation began, per a probable cause statement cited by First Alert 4. The statement indicates the victim retreated as Spencer approached him, and that the victim was unarmed throughout the encounter. A surveillance camera recorded the entire confrontation, capturing Spencer holding a bladed object before he stabbed the victim in the face with it, the outlet reports.
After the stabbing, Spencer fled the scene in his car, according to the account. Police did not catch up with him immediately — it wasn't until several days later that officers spotted Spencer and his vehicle back at the same parking lot near Cass Avenue, leading to his arrest.
Spencer's Statement Changed After Confronted With Evidence
When questioned, Spencer initially admitted only that he had been involved in an altercation. His account reportedly shifted after officers told him about the puncture marks found on the victim and the surveillance footage that had captured the incident, per the same report.
The location sits along the northern edge of Columbus Square, a small North St. Louis neighborhood bounded by Cass Avenue, Interstate 70, Cole Street, and North 13th and Tucker Streets, and represented by Ward 14 Alderman Rasheen Aldridge Jr. The area sits along a corridor that has drawn scrutiny in past public-safety assessments; a 2022 report from the Giffords Law Center identified the Cass Avenue corridor between Columbus Square and the adjacent Carr Square neighborhood as a priority zone for expanding street-level violence interruption programs due to elevated rates of violent incidents.
What Spencer Is Facing In Court
Felony prosecutions tied to Columbus Square incidents are handled by the St. Louis City Circuit Attorney's Office and adjudicated in Missouri's 22nd Judicial Circuit Court, per the City of St. Louis. Under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 565.050, first-degree assault is a Class B felony punishable by 5 to 15 years in prison, or a Class A felony carrying 10 to 30 years or life imprisonment if serious injury results, according to a report from Weather and News Around The 4 States. Defendants convicted of Class B violent felonies in Missouri must serve at least 85% of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
The armed criminal action charge adds another layer of exposure. Under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 571.015, that unclassified felony carries a mandatory minimum of three years in state prison for a first offense, and it must be served consecutively — not concurrently — with any sentence on the underlying assault charge, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections. In practical terms, a conviction on both counts would guarantee stacked prison time rather than sentences served simultaneously. Spencer remains held without bond as the case proceeds, and the charges remain allegations that have not yet been proven in court.
A Neighborhood Already Under Scrutiny
The stabbing adds to a string of recent knife-related violence reported in the area. A July 24 incident in nearby Carr Square near North 13th Street ended with surveillance footage of suspects fleeing the scene, while a July 26 daylight stabbing near 9th and Locust Streets downtown left a victim in critical condition. Those incidents came even as St. Louis recorded its fewest homicides in a two-month span since 2009 earlier this year, with a homicide clearance rate around 84%, a trend city leaders credited to CompStat policing tactics and coordination with the Office of Violence Prevention.
Spencer's case also intersects with St. Louis's broader efforts to track its unhoused population. In June 2024, the city became the fourth in the nation to maintain real-time, by-name tracking data on all single adults experiencing homelessness, developed with the House Everyone STL coalition as part of the national Built for Zero initiative, according to Community Solutions. Separately, the city's Planning Commission released a draft neighborhood framework this month covering Columbus Square and five adjacent Northside communities, aimed at guiding housing stabilization and commercial corridor investment in the area for years to come.
