Man shot in East St. Louis trying to get a phone number
A man told police his attempts to court a young lady resulted instead with an angry grandmother and a gunshot wound to his leg.
Officers were dispatched to the 3200 block of Linden Avenue in East St. Louis where they located the wounded man, whose identity has been withheld, at about 11:13 p.m. Saturday.
“He was alert and conscious, but was reluctant to cooperate with police,” East St. Louis Police Sgt. Cantrell Patterson said.
The man told police he was standing outside and attempting to get the phone number from a female in the neighborhood. Backed by “several black male subjects,” Cantrell said, a woman warned the young suitor to leave her granddaughter alone.
“He said he tried telling her he didn’t mean any harm. The victim said he was unable to reason with the grandmother and several black male subjects he did not know began to batter him and attempted to make him leave the area by displaying a handgun,”Patterson said.
According to Patterson, the man said one of the suspects fired a gun into the air and heard several other gunshots fired before he was hit.
“Because the victim did not leave the area fast enough, one of the suspects shot him in the ankle and fled from the scene on foot,” Patterson said.
A Medstar ambulance transported the victim to an area hospital for treatment of the bullet wound to his ankle.
Patterson did not have an update on the victim’s condition. No one has been arrested.
“The victim was told to call the East St. Louis Police Department the following business day for follow up investigation,” Patterson said.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 3:20 PM.
