A dispute over a returned item at a Bevo Mill Dollar General escalated into a hail of gunfire on July 22, when police say a customer emptied more than 80 rounds in the store's parking lot after being told he couldn't get his money back. Johnathan Joseph, 33, now faces charges including attempted first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm and two counts of armed criminal action, and court records show he is being held without bond.
According to KMOV, Joseph walked into the Dollar General store hoping to return merchandise that had already been opened. When an employee told him the item could not be returned, police say Joseph verbally threatened the victim before leaving the store. He then went back out to the parking lot, only to return again a short time later, according to the same account.
That's when officers responding to a report of shots fired found the aftermath: more than 80 fired cartridge cases scattered across the Dollar General parking lot in the Bevo Mill neighborhood, per the station's report. Police say Joseph fired the shots from a handgun during the confrontation.
Stacked Charges Carry Steep Mandatory Time
The charges against Joseph carry significant cumulative prison exposure under Missouri law. Attempted first-degree assault alone is a Class B felony under Missouri Revised Statutes § 565.050, carrying a sentencing range of 5 to 15 years, though the charge can escalate to a Class A felony punishable by up to life in prison if a victim suffers serious injury or qualifies as a special victim.
Layered on top of that is unlawful possession of a firearm, a status-based offense that, per Missouri Revised Statutes § 571.070, is normally a Class D felony carrying up to 7 years, but escalates to a Class C or even Class B felony carrying 5 to 15 years if the defendant has prior dangerous or violent felony convictions. Joseph's specific prior record, which would determine how that charge is ultimately classified, remains an open question.
Perhaps most consequential are the two counts of armed criminal action. Under Missouri Revised Statutes § 571.015, that charge is an unclassified felony stacked onto an underlying felony committed with a deadly weapon, carrying a mandatory minimum of 3 years in prison per count with no eligibility for probation or parole, and convictions must run consecutively rather than concurrently with the underlying charges.
Not the First Shooting Along This Gravois Corridor
This isn't the first time gunfire has erupted at a dollar store along the Gravois Avenue commercial strip running through Bevo Mill. In June 2024, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office announced that Anthony Dwayne Brown was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and armed criminal action tied to an April 2021 shooting spree that included firing multiple rounds in a Family Dollar parking lot on Gravois Avenue before fatally shooting a man nearby.
Retail disputes turning violent are also a recurring theme for St. Louis dollar stores more broadly. Just last month, Hoodline reported that a knife-pulling trio hit a North City dollar store, where a suspect pulled a knife on an employee who confronted him over merchandise before fleeing with two others in a red vehicle. And in November 2018, a 42-year-old Dollar General employee was shot and killed during an attempted robbery at a North Grand Boulevard location that, according to KSDK, had already been robbed 11 times since 2014.
The pattern extends well beyond St. Louis. A Gun Violence Archive analysis reported by ProPublica identified more than 200 violent firearm incidents at Dollar General and Family Dollar stores nationwide between 2017 and 2020, resulting in nearly 50 deaths, underscoring the scrutiny discount retail chains have faced over worker and customer safety.
Weapons Charges Remain a Heavy Caseload for the City
Weapons offenses are already one of the most frequently prosecuted categories of crime in St. Louis. In 2025, city law enforcement recorded 4,386 weapons law violations, according to Rose Legal Services, making offenses like unlawful use of a weapon among the highest-volume charges the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office handles each year. Missouri's unlawful use of a weapon statute alone covers ten distinct categories of firearm misconduct, from brandishing to discharging a gun near populated places, with penalties ranging from Class E felonies carrying up to 4 years to Class B felonies carrying up to 15 years depending on the subsection charged.
Bevo Mill, home to roughly 11,941 residents across 1.37 square miles according to city Census data, has seen its share of gun violence in recent years. Hoodline previously reported on an 18-year-old shot and robbed by a group in the neighborhood in 2025, as well as a fatal shooting that prompted a homicide investigation there in October 2024. Joseph remains held without bond as the case moves through the courts, according to court records.
