A St. Louis alderwoman was caught on video threatening to put a bullet in a fellow board member's head during a public meeting about troubled senior housing. Alderwoman Sharon Tyus launched the tirade against Alderman Rasheen Aldridge as residents of the Homer G. Phillips Senior Apartments aired years of complaints about their building's management.
According to KSDK, Tyus threatened to put a bullet in Aldridge's head during the meeting. The exchange came amid a dispute over senior housing management.
The exchange took place during a dispute over senior housing management as residents aired complaints about the building.
A Building With a History of Broken Promises
The meeting's flashpoint was the Homer G. Phillips Senior Apartments at 2601 Whittier Street, which has been managed since around 2021 by Portland, Maine-based Eagle Point Management. Residents and tenant association leaders have repeatedly staged public protests over concerns at the building, according to KSDK's earlier reporting. Homer G. Phillips residents were present and heard the threat directly, per the KSDK report on the meeting.
The apartments sit on part of the campus of the former Homer G. Phillips Hospital, a landmark in St. Louis's The Ville neighborhood that once trained a third of all Black doctors in the United States before its controversial closure in 1979, according to Nine PBS. That legacy helps explain why governance fights over the site carry such emotional weight for the surrounding community. The surrounding area also includes affordable housing for adults 55 and older in the 63113 ZIP code.
A Rivalry Rooted in Ward Consolidation
The clash between Tyus and Aldridge did not emerge in isolation. Tensions between veteran aldermen and newer leadership on the Board of Aldermen escalated in April 2023 when the city reconstituted the Board and Board President Megan Green abolished automatic seniority-based committee appointments in favor of internal member elections, according to the St. Louis American. Tyus is a longtime public official who won the consolidated Ward 12 seat in 2023.
Aldridge was elected to represent Ward 14 in that same 2023 election. The dispute extended beyond senior housing, with Tyus's repeated budget-subcommittee absences noted at sessions co-chaired by Aldridge.
City Leaders Weigh Their Response
Police were reportedly investigating the incident, according to the station.
Tyus did not respond to a phone call and text message from KSDK seeking comment. If prosecutors pursue charges, Missouri law offers more than one avenue: under Missouri Revised Statutes § 565.090, harassment involving a knowingly communicated threat to commit a felony is a Class A misdemeanor unless a statutory exception makes it a Class D felony. Separately, Missouri Revised Statutes § 574.115 makes first-degree terrorist threat a Class D felony when a person purposely seeks to frighten at least ten people or cause evacuation, quarantine, or closure and knowingly communicates a threat involving danger to life. Whether either statute applies here remains up to investigators.
