A Jefferson County jury has found Herbert Harris, 26, of St. Louis guilty of first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Harris was working at the Taco Bell restaurant, 1932 Richardson Road, in Arnold when he shot a customer during an argument in November 2022, the case’s probable-cause statement said.
Jefferson County Div. 4 Circuit Judge Brenda Stacey is scheduled to sentence Harris on July 24, the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The assault charge is a class A felony that carries a penalty of 10 to 30 years or life in prison, and armed criminal action is an unclassified penalty punishable by three to 15 years in prison.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Courtney Goodwin prosecuted the case.
Police were called at approximately 2:35 a.m. Nov. 27, 2022, about the shooting involving Harris and a 46-year-old Imperial man, who also fired a gun during the dispute. Both men were injured in the shooting and taken to Mercy Hospital South in south St. Louis County with non-life-threatening injuries, Arnold Police reported.
According to the probable-cause statement in the case, Harris and the customer got into an argument through the drive-thru speaker because the restaurant would not serve the man. The report did not say why the restaurant, which typically would have been open until 3 a.m., would not serve the customer.
After the argument through the speaker, Harris went outside and confronted the customer in the drive-thru lane, the report said.
The customer could not drive away because his vehicle was blocked by vehicles in front and behind him, and the restaurant’s building was on the left and a concrete wall was on the right, according to the report.
Harris challenged the customer to a fight, and when the man didn’t get out of his vehicle, Harris went back inside. However, Harris came back out with a gun in the waistband of his pants, the report said.
A woman who was in the vehicle with the customer in the drive-thru got out while Harris and the customer argued, and Harris hit the woman in the face and pushed her away before threatening to get into the passenger side of the vehicle, the report said.
Then, the customer got out of his vehicle, holding a gun against the right side of his body so Harris wouldn’t see it. He told Harris not to approach him, but Harris allegedly pulled out the gun and held it in his right hand while approaching the customer who allegedly shot at Harris one time, hitting him in the right leg. Harris then fired several shots at the customer who also was struck in his right leg, according to the report.
The customer required surgery, the report said.
At the time of the shooting, Harris was serving five years’ probation for a sentence he received for first-degree robbery following a May 2019 arrest in St. Louis. The robbery sentence was suspended in January 2020, court records show.