A 19-year-old Herculaneum woman was shot Monday (Oct. 17) in Crystal City in what police described as a fight between 15 or 20 participants fueled by “narcotics and girlfriend issues.”
She was hit by a stray bullet from the fight, which was about 50 yards away. The woman was struck in the right arm and chest. She was transported to Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur for treatment and is expected to survive, said Capt. Mike Pruneau of the Crystal City Police Department. Her condition was unavailable Tuesday morning.
Pruneau said the shooting was the second of two incidents Monday night in the 100 block of Maple Street in Crystal City.
“About 9 p.m. we got a heads-up that there was a fight ready to go down there,” Pruneau said. “Our officers went down there and arrested two males, one from Crystal City and one from Festus, both 20 years old, on assault charges.”
Those two were in custody when another call came in at 9:30 p.m. that shots had been fired in the area, Pruneau said.
Officers found five shell casings near a stairway that connects Maple to County Road. The woman was hit as she stood behind an open car door. Pruneau said the bullet that hit her broke the window of the car door before striking her.
“Detectives are working to determine who fired the shot,” Pruneau said Tuesday morning. “They have it down to four or five people.”
He said the fight is the latest in a long-simmering dispute over drug territory in the Ward 1 neighborhood.