A driver crashed on southbound Interstate 170 in north St. Louis County early Wednesday night after being shot, according to police, triggering a shutdown of all southbound lanes between St. Charles Rock Road and an area just north of Page Avenue.
Police received a call about a crash on southbound I-170 near Midland Boulevard, and when emergency crews arrived, they found that someone inside the vehicle had been shot, according to KMOV/First Alert 4. Traffic was being forced off the highway at St. Charles Rock Road as the closure stretched across a multi-mile section of the interstate. The outlet's report, published in the overnight hours Wednesday into Thursday, identified the driver as a 17-year-old girl and said she later died; it did not identify who was responsible for the shooting.
A Stretch of Highway With a Troubled History
A police pursuit ended on Natural Bridge Road near the southbound I-170 ramp in north St. Louis County on Oct. 30, 2024, around 5 p.m. on a Wednesday, after a suspect allegedly fired shots at officers during the chase.
At least one officer returned gunfire, striking the suspect several times, while the suspect was later listed in stable condition at a nearby hospital and no officers were hurt, per the same account. Two officers were involved in that shooting — one from Breckenridge Hills and one from Woodson Terrace — according to the St. Louis County Police Department's public information office. The St. Louis County Crimes Against Persons and Crime Scene Unit was assigned to investigate that pursuit and exchange of gunfire.
Prior Shootings Have Shut Down the Highway for Hours
Roadway violence on I-170 has led to extended closures before. A gun battle between two vehicles speeding down the interstate in Olivette left a 46-year-old Bridgeton woman, identified by investigators as Kristen Whitted, dead after she was struck by gunfire and later died at a hospital, according to FOX 2. That incident shut down the southbound lanes of the interstate for nearly four hours, and the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis was called in to assist with the investigation.
Other crashes along the corridor have also sent people to the hospital. In March 2024, one person was left in critical condition after a crash on southbound I-170 near St. Charles Rock Road, with two victims transported to a hospital from the scene, according to First Alert 4. A separate, more severe crash on the ramp connecting I-170 to Interstate 64 left two men dead and two St. Louis police officers injured after a police vehicle collided with another car, with another man arrested in that incident, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The 17-year-old girl shot and found inside the crashed vehicle near Midland Boulevard later died at the hospital; details on who fired the shots or whether the case is connected to any other vehicle or suspect had not been released. Drivers in north St. Louis County should expect the southbound I-170 corridor between St. Charles Rock Road and Page Avenue to remain a slow go until authorities provide further updates.
