Collinsville man pleads guilty in fatal shooting of St. Louis high school alumnus

A Collinsville man has pleaded guilty to a 2015 fatal shooting during an attempted carjacking in St. Louis, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Christopher Grant, 21, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder, attempted robbery, a gun charge and criminal action in the shooting death of 19-year-old Bobby Christman, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Christman was sitting in a parked car with his brother and girlfriend near the City Museum in St. Louis when a car pulled up beside him and a man with a gun got out and tried to grab the woman’s purse, according to the Post-Dispatch. Witnesses told police that Christman said something to the man with the gun, who then fired a shot at Christman and fled.

Officers tracked the suspects’ car, which ended up being stolen, to a convenience mart near Washington Park and exchanged gunfire with the suspects.

Grant’s co-defendent, Tony Ross Jr., is facing second-degree murder, robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon charges. His trial is in April.

Christman, a De Smet Jesuit High School graduate, was a sophomore at Southeast Missouri State University at the time of his death. He was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

This story was originally published December 11, 2017 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Collinsville man pleads guilty in fatal shooting of St. Louis high school alumnus."