Rifle used in St. Louis shooting was taken from gunman days before attack, police say
The rifle used by a man who killed five people and wounded seven in a shooting rampage in a downtown St. Louis bar may have been an old military surplus, police said Thursday.
The rifle used by a man who killed five people and wounded seven in a shooting rampage in a downtown St. Louis bar may have been an old military surplus, police said Thursday.
The rifle, a Remington Model 92, with an aluminum stock that was used in the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, was registered to an ex-Marine who was discharged from the military in 2006, said St. Louis police Lt. Steve Fritz.
The rifle was captured in a search conducted after the attack. The ex-Marine, who is awaiting trial, was arrested March 14 in his home on a felony warrant for armed robbery, Fritz said.
“He’s a person of interest in this and we’re following and we’re looking at him,” Fritz said.
Fritz said the suspect’s background check revealed that he had several firearms, including a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, a.40 caliber handgun and an AR-15 rifle.
The suspect, who police believe is from St. Louis, was reported to have had an old military rifle, Fritz said, though whether or not that’s true, it was among a bundle of guns that were seized, along with a semiautomatic handgun and an AR-15 rifle.
Fritz said the caliber of the weapon used in the shooting ranged from.45 to.50.
“There’s not much left to do but wait until all of the evidence comes to hand,” said St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, as he described the scene of the shooting just before 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
“I mean, he got away with it,” Slay said of the suspect.
The suspect, 29-year-old Robert Spatola, was shot in the chest and killed by a St. Louis police officer moments after he opened fire in the