A 17-year-old is dead and a 16-year-old is recovering in a hospital after gunfire broke out early Saturday in Cahokia Heights, marking the latest deadly shooting to strike the Metro East city in recent weeks. Cahokia Heights police responded to the 800 block of Saint William Drive at about 1:35 a.m. Saturday, according to the Major Case Squad, and found the 17-year-old dead at the scene along with the wounded 16-year-old and two other teens who were not hit by gunfire.
The 16-year-old was taken to a hospital for treatment, police said, as detailed by KSDK. The Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis was activated after the two teens were shot, with 15 members now working the case, and Tim Lawrence, who serves with the Madison County Sheriff's Department, is acting as deputy commander of the investigation. The regional task force, formed in 1965, pools hundreds of trained detectives from six Missouri counties and eight Illinois counties to assist smaller departments on major violent crimes, according to the St. Charles Police Department.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Major Case Squad command post at 618-337-9500 or Crimestoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS (8477). The task force maintains an average clearance rate of roughly 80% for the homicides and major violent crimes it investigates, well above national homicide clearance averages, per the St. Charles Police Department's data.
A City Already Strained by Repeat Activations
This is not the first time this month that Cahokia Heights Police Chief Thomas Trice has requested Major Case Squad help. On Sept. 2, St. Clair County prosecutors filed first-degree murder and weapons charges against a 34-year-old suspect in connection with an Aug. 31 fatal shooting at BB's Sports Bar in Cahokia Heights, a case also investigated by the task force, according to the Metro East Star. That suspect remained at large when the charges were announced.
The bar shooting followed the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Lamerion L. Davis on Camp Jackson Road on July 25, which also triggered a Major Case Squad probe and led to the arrest of a 20-year-old suspect charged with first-degree murder on July 30, according to RiverBender.com. That case reportedly generated around 60 investigative leads before an arrest was made.
A Young City Confronting Blight and Violence
Cahokia Heights was officially incorporated on May 6, 2021, after voters approved a referendum consolidating Cahokia, Centreville and Alorton into a single municipality, according to the Illinois EPA. Curtis McCall Sr. has served as the city's first elected mayor since its formation, overseeing a community of nearly 18,000 residents. Census-based figures show a median household income of $35,299 and a median resident age of 35, with about 17% of the population under 20 years old, per data compiled by Apartments.com.
In June, Chief Trice restructured the city's code enforcement unit under police department command to tackle more than 1,000 derelict residential properties and blighted structures, applying broken-windows crime-prevention theory to the effort, according to KSDK's earlier reporting. The initiative added five civilian inspectors and divided the city into five operational zones as part of a broader push to curb violent crime alongside the recurring homicide investigations.
Resources for Victims and Families
Several regional organizations offer support to those affected by gun violence in the St. Louis area. The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis runs the Neighborhood Healing Network, which serves people who have experienced crime, violence or trauma. Life Outside of Violence helps people harmed by stabbing, gunshot or assault receive treatment, support and resources, while the Bullet Related Injury Clinic, a community-based clinic in St. Louis, was established to help people discharged from the emergency department after being shot. The Crime Victim Center of St. Louis also offers multiple programs supporting victims of crime.
Under Illinois law, a first-degree murder conviction carries a standard sentence of 20 to 60 years in prison, with a mandatory add-on of 25 years to natural life if a firearm was personally discharged to cause death, according to the Illinois General Assembly. No suspect has been identified in Saturday's shooting, and the relationship between the victims and the motive behind the gunfire remain unknown as the Major Case Squad's investigation continues.
