A 38-year-old man was found dead between two houses in St. Louis' Baden neighborhood Friday afternoon, after a 47-year-old man told officers he shot him following an attack. District 6 officers responded shortly after 1 p.m. to the 900 block of Canaan Avenue, where they found the younger man unresponsive and not breathing. He was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.
According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the 47-year-old man stated he shot a man after being attacked. Officers detained him pending further investigation, and homicide detectives responded to take over the case. Police said detectives noted injuries on the 47-year-old consistent with his claims of being attacked, though the department has not made any independent determination about what led up to the shooting. The investigation remains ongoing, and as First Alert 4 first reported Saturday, no charges had been announced.
What Police Have Confirmed So Far
Police have not released the identities of either man involved, and it remains unclear whether the 47-year-old will face charges. The department's account relies on the shooter's own statement to officers, paired with the physical evidence detectives observed on him, but stops short of confirming the sequence of events that led to the shooting.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Homicide Division directly at 314-444-5371, per the department's release.
A Neighborhood That Has Seen Repeat Violence
Friday's shooting is not an isolated incident for the small North St. Louis neighborhood. A man was found dead in Baden on May 26, with homicide detectives responding, according to stltoday.com. In late September, an 18-year-old was critically injured in a Baden shooting, found shot in the head in the 800 block of Rivertrail Court just after 1:30 p.m., with the shooting believed to have happened nearby in the 800 block of Makalu Drive, according to firstalert4.com. That teenager was taken to a hospital in critical condition, the outlet reported.
A year earlier, in November 2025, firstalert4.com reported that 46-year-old Derrick Florian was shot in Baden and later died at a hospital, in an incident that occurred around 10:53 p.m. in the 8400 block of Gast Place. Denny T. Burton, 47, was later charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with that shooting, the outlet said. Separately, KSDK reported on another Baden shooting where officers responded shortly after 4:45 p.m., though police had not released that victim's name as of the following afternoon. These reports document a string of separate violent incidents in the neighborhood, though the available evidence does not establish a broader crime trend tying them together.
For now, Friday's case in the 900 block of Canaan Avenue remains under investigation, with homicide detectives working to determine exactly what happened before the fatal shot was fired.
