Gavin Michael Ross, 17, of St. Louis has been charged with a felony for his role in an alleged drug deal on Jan. 21 that ended with a shooting outside a restaurant in unincorporated Fenton. A 40-year-old Fenton woman was struck by a bullet in the left leg when a van she was driving was hit by at least two bullets. She was transported to an area hospital, where she was treated and released, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Ross was charged on Jan. 24 with first-degree robbery, a class A felony punishable by 10 to 30 years or life in prison. He was being held today (Jan. 29) in the Jefferson County Jail without bond, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
The Sheriff’s Office was called at about 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21 to a shopping plaza in the 1600 block of S. Old Hwy. 141 in unincorporated Fenton, where the shooting occurred. The woman had arrived at the plaza in a 2006 Honda Odyssey with a male passenger, an 18-year-old Fenton man, and parked in the center parking spaces of the lot near Borgetti’s Bar and Grill, 1667 S. Old Hwy. 141, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The woman told authorities the passenger in the van was meeting a friend, and when she and the 18-year-old passenger arrived at they plaza, he got out of the van and into another vehicle where the teen’s friend was waiting, along with two other men, including Ross. She said Ross had arrived earlier in a different vehicle, a white GMC Envoy SUV, a probable-cause statement in the case said.
The woman said after the 18-year-old got into his friend’s vehicle with Ross, several men got out of the SUV and surrounded that vehicle. She said she feared for her passenger’s safety and got a handgun out of the van’s glove box and approached the men who surrounded the vehicle, according to the probable-cause statement.
She told authorities the men who had surrounded the vehicle ran back to the SUV, and she returned to her van. Then, she said she heard several gunshots come from the SUV, and she was struck in the left leg, the report said.
The 18-year-old allegedly told police he was meeting Ross to sell him marijuana. He said when he got into his friend’s vehicle, Ross was getting into the backseat, and the other men, armed with guns, surrounded that vehicle. The teen said that is when the woman came out of the van with a gun, according to the probable-cause statement.
The teen said Ross and the men who had surrounded him got into their SUV and drove away. While the Envoy was leaving, a passenger sitting behind the driver in the SUV allegedly fired multiple gunshots, and it appeared the gun had a light on it, the report said.
Ross reportedly told authorities the SUV belongs to his father, and he drove it to the plaza to allegedly buy a pound of marijuana for $2,400 from the passenger in the van. He said he picked up two friends, one of whom had guns, before meeting at the shopping plaza. One of Ross’s passengers was a juvenile, according to the probable-cause statement.
Ross also allegedly told authorities that he and his associates planned to steal the marijuana, and after the 18-year-old gave him the marijuana, the two people in the SUV surrounded them with guns. However, when the woman approached, Ross got out of the vehicle, and he and the two men with guns got into the SUV to leave, the report said.
He allegedly said the man who had the guns was in the backseat and was the person who shot at the 18-year-old and the woman, according to the report.
One bullet hit the woman in her left leg, and a bullet was found in the van’s driver-side door and front driver-side tire. The glass front door of the bar and grill also was shattered by a bullet, the report said.
No injuries were reported for anyone inside the restaurant.
Ross said he later dropped off the two passengers in the SUV and removed three bullet shell casings from the back seat of the Envoy. He said he threw the casings into an overgrown area in St. Louis County, the probable-cause statement said.
The Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the incident, and is working with St. Louis County Police to try to track down others involved. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 636-797-5515.