Two men have admitted to gunning down an 18-year-old outside a Cool Valley gas station nearly four years ago, closing the book on a case that began with an attempted marijuana transaction and ended with the teenager dying at a hospital. Christopher “Face” Hall, 25, and Bryant “BJ” Pirtle, 23, each pleaded guilty to one count of discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime resulting in death, a charge that carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
According to First Alert 4, plea agreements show Hall and Pirtle had been cruising around St. Louis city and county on January 28, 2023, selling marijuana out of a 2017 Honda Accord. Early the next morning, around 3 a.m., the pair stopped at a gas station in the 1700 block of South Florissant Road in Cool Valley. The Homicide Tracker lists Williams's location as 1780 South Florissant Road, just north of Interstate 70; the Department of Justice also reported on the case.
Pirtle offered Devon Williams, 18, marijuana and told him to meet at the Honda parked outside, per the plea agreements. Pirtle then walked to the Honda with $20; after a brief discussion, Pirtle walked away, and Hall exited the driver's seat. Federal prosecutors noted in plea documents, as detailed by the Department of Justice, that both men opened fire on Williams simultaneously. Prosecutors say Hall also ran over Williams as he drove away from the gas station, and Hall later bragged about running over Williams in text messages, First Alert 4 reported. Williams died from the attack.
Digital Trail Led Investigators to Suspects
Surveillance video from the gas station was used to match Pirtle's iPhone and a gray Lacoste backpack to footage from the scene, the station's report states. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has separately reported that investigators initially zeroed in on Pirtle by tracking his cell phone location data, which placed his iPhone at the murder scene and then at the spot where the getaway car was later found abandoned, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Detectives found drug paraphernalia, marijuana, plastic baggies and guns when Hall and Pirtle were arrested in March 2023, per the same account. The firearms seized were valued at $4,543, First Alert 4 reported. The Homicide Tracker reports that officers seized about $4,500, a pound of marijuana, digital scales, and two AR-15-style rifles when Pirtle was arrested on March 23, 2023.
Earlier Raids Swept Up Multiple Suspects
Before Pirtle's individual arrest, law enforcement had already arrested Hall, Pirtle, and several other individuals on March 10, 2023, at a St. Louis County apartment that contained five firearms, marijuana, and digital scales, the Department of Justice said. A subsequent court-approved search of Hall's home turned up firearm accessories and packaging materials. The 9mm Beretta handgun Hall used during the shooting wasn't recovered until more than a year later, when the St. Louis County Police Department found it during an unrelated traffic stop on July 9, 2024.
Pirtle was first indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2023. Hall wasn't indicted until June 2023, while he was already being held in jail on separate state charges in St. Louis County Circuit Court stemming from a March 2023 shooting, the Department of Justice noted at the time.
A Previous Gas Station Shooting
The investigation into Williams's killing was carried out jointly by the FBI, the St. Louis County Police Department, and the Normandy Police Department. Cool Valley contracts its municipal policing through Normandy, which serves as the primary local responding agency for the small North County city, according to the City of Normandy.
Two months earlier, in November 2022, 20-year-old Synciere Jamison was shot and killed outside a BP station at 1790 South Florissant Road, according to the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.
Hall and Pirtle are scheduled to be sentenced on January 20, 2027, when a judge will determine their final penalties under the charge that carries up to life in prison.
