Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information from police.
BELLEFONTAINE NEIGHBORS, Mo. – A Bellefontaine Neighbors man is facing a murder charge for fatally wounding an individual who was part of a trio that were looking to break into cars.
According to Sgt. Tracy Panus, a St. Louis County Police Department spokeswoman, said Bellefontaine Neighbors police responded to a shooting around 2:45 a.m. in the 1100 block of Troy Drive. The officers searched the area and located the victim, said to be a male in his late teens, in the 1100 block of Oran Drive.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, Panus said. His name has not been released.
Bellefontaine Neighbors police requested the county’s Bureau of Crimes Against Persons to assume responsibility for the investigation.
The person who called police, a juvenile, told investigators that he, the victim, and a third individual were on the street around 2:30 a.m. to “check vehicles,” police said. The victim was driving the other two.
Police said Michael Tolden, 46, went outside with a gun and pointed it in the direction of the trio. As the juvenile and the third person ran back to their car, Tolden began firing at the vehicle, striking the driver. The victim’s vehicle rolled forward and came to a stop on the front lawn of a home.
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Tolden with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, and two counts of armed criminal action. Tolden remains jailed on a $1 million cash-only bond.
