A St. Charles roofing crew scattered after their co-worker allegedly pulled a handgun with a 100-round drum magazine and threatened to shoot everyone on the job site if he was fired. David Downing Jr., 40, is now facing felony charges after police say he showed up late to work, argued with his boss, and then escalated the confrontation into a threat that emptied the job site of 10 to 11 employees.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law & Crime, the incident unfolded on August 20 when Downing arrived late and did not start working. An assistant foreman notified the roofing company's boss about the late arrival, and the boss sent Downing home for the day while the rest of the crew went to lunch, according to reporting from local12.com.
Downing allegedly returned to the site still hostile, telling co-workers he felt disrespected, per the affidavit. Police say he then demanded $1,000 from each of the 10 to 11 employees present and threatened to shoot them all if the company fired him for his lateness. Per the affidavit, Downing warned he would come back to “split everyone's taco” if he lost his job.
A Firearm and a Chilling Warning
A co-worker told investigators Downing displayed a handgun fitted with a 100-round drum magazine during the confrontation, according to the affidavit cited by Law & Crime. Police also allege that during a drive to lunch, Downing showed a co-worker crime scene photos and boasted about an unsolved murder in St. Louis, a claim that reportedly deepened the crew's fear before the workplace threat occurred.
The roofing company's president responded by ordering everyone to evacuate the job site, then fired Downing by text message and told him not to return to work the next day, according to both Law & Crime and local12.com. Police later arrested Downing, and prosecutors charged him with first-degree making a terrorist threat and unlawful possession of a firearm.
A Recent Parole Release Tied to a Prior Killing
Court records reviewed by Law & Crime show Downing was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2022 by a Pennsylvania jury and sentenced to 45 months to 12 years in prison for the September 2019 fatal shooting of 50-year-old Derrick Potts. He was released on parole in April 2024. According to police records from that case reported by WNEP-TV, Downing shot Potts in the head inside a Valley Township motel room after confronting him over an alleged sexual assault involving Downing's girlfriend.
That history helps explain why the felon-in-possession charge carries such weight. Under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 571.070, unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is a Class C felony punishable by three to 10 years in prison, according to the Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Convicted felons caught with firearms can also face federal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), which carries sentences up to 10 or 15 years, according to Rose Legal Services.
Why the Terrorist Threat Charge Applies
The presence of 10 to 11 employees on site is what pushed the allegation into felony territory. Missouri Revised Statutes Section 574.115 defines communicating a threat intended to cause fear among 10 or more people, or to force a workplace evacuation, as first-degree making a terrorist threat, a Class D felony, per the Missouri Revisor of Statutes.
The case fits into a broader, troubling pattern nationally. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released in February shows that 470 of the 733 fatal workplace violence incidents recorded in 2024 were homicides. Construction and extraction occupations, meanwhile, suffered 1,032 fatal work injuries that year, the highest total among all private U.S. industry sectors, according to the federal agency's report.
The alleged threat also echoes a similar case Hoodline covered in June, when a Creve Coeur man was charged under the same Missouri terrorist-threat statute after a daycare shooting threat in the St. Louis region. It remains unknown whether St. Louis authorities are investigating Downing's alleged boast about an unsolved murder, and it is unclear what bond or pretrial detention decisions the St. Charles County Circuit Court has made in his case.
