EAST ST. LOUIS — A Cahokia Heights man has been charged with murder and other charges in connection with the death of a 3-year-old child who was struck by gunfire last weekend along with an 11-year-old in a drive-by shooting, police said.
Troy L. Cooper, 34, was charged in St. Clair County with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
The shooting happened about 12:20 a.m. Sunday at North 15th Street and East Broadway in East St. Louis.ÌýSomeone in a passing vehicle was shooting, and the children were hit, said Trooper Rodger Goines with the Illinois State Police.
AÂ 3-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries after being shot, police said, and was pronounced dead sometime later at a hospital.Ìý
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An 11-year-old boy also was shot but suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening, police said; that child also was taken to a hospital for treatment.Ìý
Cooper was being held at the St. Clair County Jail as of Friday afternoon. His bail had been set at $1.5 million, police said.
The Illinois State Police Public Safety Enforcement Group investigated the shooting, along with East St. Louis detectives.
As of June 19, at least 55 children have been injured or killed by gunfire across the St. Louis metropolitan area in 2022. Police define a child as anyone 17 years old or younger. Eight of the 55 have died; 47 were injured.
Children injured or killed by gunfire in the St. Louis area in 2022
Below is the ÀÏ°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±½á¹û coverage of children who have been injured or killed by gunfire across the St. Louis metropolitan area in 2022. Police define a child as anyone 17 years old or younger.
As of Dec. 29, at least 120 children this year have been shot across the metropolitan area, including 26 who died. Nearly all of them were in St. Louis.
A regional team of detectives is investigating the Christmas Eve killing of a 17-year-old boy, LaShawn Bell.
Jaylen Miles was found dead in the backyard of a vacant home in the 10600 block of Spring Garden Drive.
The woman was shot in the thumb, and her teenage daughter suffered a graze wound to her arm at Riverview Boulevard and Garesche Avenue.
He was discovered dead in the backyard of a vacant home in the 10600 block of Spring Garden Drive.
Demond Tucker was found shot dead in a parking lot just after 4:30 p.m. in the 8300 block of Octavia Avenue.
A 12-year-old boy was shot in the ankle in the city's Baden neighborhood.Ìý
The shooting happened near Branter Place and Webster Avenue, according to a police report.
A 15-year-old boy was shot in the afternoon in the city's Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.
The shooting happened around 2 p.m. near the intersection of Page Boulevard and North Taylor Avenue in the Lewis Place neighborhood.
Jacob Ashford, 14, was killed just after 7 p.m. in the 5300 block of Northland Avenue. He was found on a porch and pronounced dead at the scene.
Lamarion Davis was shot dead about 1:30 a.m. Saturday in the 400 block of North 10th Street in downtown St. Louis.
A 16-year-old boy was shot in the leg Monday morning while waiting for a bus in the city's Baden neighborhood.
Police on Sunday identified a teen killed in a double shooting that left another teen injured in the city's Greater Ville neighborhood.Ìý
A Hazelwood teenager said he was shot in the leg Wednesday near Pine Street and Tucker Boulevard in downtown St. Louis.
Prosecutors charged a man after an 11-year-old boy was shot at a home Wednesday in Belleville.
A 15-year-old boy was shot in the knee Wednesday morning in the city's Ville neighborhood.Ìý
Police said the boy was in a car with four other teenagers when four or five males emerged from a gangway and opened fire on the vehicle.
The teen was dropped off at a hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg around 6 p.m., police said.Ìý
A 16-year-old girl was shot in the hip Wednesday in the city's Carr Square neighborhood.Ìý
Two boys, 14 and 16, were shot Monday afternoon after stealing a woman's car from her home in north St. Louis, police said.
They both told police they heard gunshots then were hit.Ìý
Tony Montana Fingers, 17, was killed just after 10 p.m. Sunday in the 3600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in south St. Louis.
The shooting happened at 3 a.m. somewhere near Sullivan and Elliott avenues.
Alexzandria Bell, 15, was one of two people killed in a school shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High school and Collegiate Schoo…
A 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg and back Thursday morning while walking down a street in the city's Penrose neighborhood.
The teenager told police he was at a birthday party when he stepped outside, heard a gunshot and then felt pain in his thigh where he'd been s…
He and a 12-year-old ran from a man with a gun, who fired at them, hitting the older boy in the leg.
Police said a 13-year-old and his 18-year-old cousin were "play fighting" when the younger was shot.
A toddler was shot in the head in the parking lot of an AutoZone in the 3600 block of Kingshighway.
A 14-year-old boy shot in the back was found critically injured in a St. Louis gangway Sunday night, authorities said.
They were shot behind the 4100 block of South Compton Avenue. One refused to tell police what happened. The other said they were walking in th…
A St. Louis teenager hid his bullet wound from his mother for days, limping around the house and telling her he got hurt on a playground, poli…
Darryl Ross, 16, of St. Louis, died at a hospital after he was shot about 11:30 p.m. near the Shell gas station at North Florissant and St. Lo…
Officers responded to a shooting about 1 p.m. in the 900 block of Melvin Avenue, in the Baden neighborhood just east of Jennings.
Police were called to reports of the shooting in the 1000 block of Washington Avenue just before 9 p.m.Ìý
A teenage girl was recovering after being grazed by a bullet Thursday night in Cahokia Heights, authorities said.
A teen was injured in a shooting Saturday in the city's Grand Center neighborhood.Ìý
A man was killed and a 14-year-old was wounded in a shooting in the city's Hamilton Heights neighborhood.Ìý
A 15-year-old boy was shot in the jaw Tuesday evening in the city's Carr Square neighborhood.Ìý
A 13-year-old boy arrived at a St. Louis hospital early Saturday with a gunshot wound to his elbow.
A man was killed and a 16-year-old was wounded after a shooting in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood.Ìý
A 17-year-old was shot in the arm Thursday in the city's Peabody-Darst-Webbe neighborhood.Ìý
Jamari Adams, 17, was shot and killed just after 1:15 a.m. in the 1500 block of Cass Avenue, near the edge of the St. Louis Place neighborhood.
A 2-year-old shot himself in the foot with a gun belonging to a teen who did not properly secure it.Ìý
A teen was shot and killed inside a downtown St. Louis train and bus station.
She was conscious and breathing after being shot in the back about 4:15 a.m. Monday in the 5900 block of Sherry Avenue.
Two teenagers injured by gunfire in separate north St. Louis shootings.
Two teens were shot early Monday in the city's Walnut Park West neighborhood.
A 12-year-old was shot in the head while riding in a car late Tuesday in the city's Penrose neighborhood.
A 16-year-old boy was shot late Wednesday just south of Downtown, in the city's Peabody-Darst-Webbe neighborhood.Ìý
Makahyah Griffin, 17, was shot and killed near the intersection of Maffitt Avenue and Union Boulevard in the Kingsway West neighborhood.
The teens, 16 and 13, were shot just after 4 p.m. in the 3500 block of the city's Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood.Ìý
A St. Louis man allowed a 4-year-old boy to get ahold of a pistol before fatally shooting himself with it, prosecutors say.
A 16-year-old was fatally shot overnight in Jefferson County, the sheriff's office said in a statement Sunday.
A 3-year-old died after the shooting at North 15th Street and East Broadway in East St. Louis; an 11-year-old was injured.
Two girls were inside a home on South Spring Avenue when bullets, apparently fired from outside, hit them about 12:45 a.m. Monday.
Two teenagers were shot Saturday evening and later died in what police are calling a murder-suicide in Glasgow Village.
A baby girl was shot in an attempted carjacking in the city's Fairground neighborhood. The suspect who tried to carjack a woman was also shot.Ìý
Two girls, 13 and 14, were shot and wounded about 8 p.m. in downtown St. Louis, police said, when gunfire erupted as officers responded to fig…
The shooting happened around 5:15 a.m.
The shooting happened around 9 p.m. near Labadie and Clarence avenues.
Police identified the teenager Sunday as Kyierah Jeffries, 16.
The shooting appeared to be accidental.Ìý
A man was killed and a woman and teenage girl were critically injured when suspects blocked the victims' SUV and opened fire in the 5000 block…
The boy was one of several children playing outside in the 5000 block of St. Louis Avenue.Ìý
The boy was shot in an alley of the 3200 block of Nebraska Avenue.Ìý
A 15-year-old boy was shot in the shoulder in the city's O'Fallon neighborhood.
The boy found the gun under a mattress at a home in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood.
The boy told police a friend accidentally shot him, but police say he provided conflicting accounts of what happened.
He was hit in both legs as he walked near Wells and Rowan avenues.
The girl and her grandmother were walking near Olive and Locust streets when the girl screamed in pain and had what appeared to be a bullet gr…
The teen arrived at a hospital around 11:45 p.m. reporting he was shot near North Broadway and Switzer Avenue, according to police.
He was injured in the 11900 block of Rio Grande Drive, between Riverview Drive and Larimore Road, in North County.Ìý
He told officers he had gotten out of his vehicle and was going into his home when he was shot.
Shot in the head, the younger boy died at the scene, along Missouri Avenue.
The boy told police that someone in a vehicle opened fire on him and a young woman as they were walking.
The boy was shot and critically injured after getting hold of a gun in a Swansea apartment.
The child was shot in the thigh, and a man in his 20s had a graze wound to his head.Ìý
Police said a 10-year-old had been playing with a gun the two found when it fired, shooting the 12-year-old.
The shooting was in the 900 block of LaSalle Park Court, south of Chouteau Avenue.
Family members said that they believed that the deaths early Friday morning were accidental.Ìý
The boy, 13, accidentally shot himself in the foot, police said.Ìý
The boy was shot around 9 p.m. in the 1400 block of North Eighth Street as he was standing in a parking lot with two other teens.
The teen, shot in the face, was one of three people hurt.Ìý
Terrion Smith was found shot inside the lobby of the Ely Walker lofts at 1520 Washington Avenue.
Bullets came through a wall of a home on Athlone Avenue and hit the girls and a 51-year-old man.
Police initially responded to an alarm sounding in the 9300 block of Lewis and Clark Boulevard.Ìý
The boys, 17 and 16, arrived at Barnes-Jewish hospital late Thursday.Ìý
The teen was shot about 11:30 p.m. in the 1500 block of Hickory Lane, in the Clinton-Peabody housing complex.
The boy was hit just before noon Sunday, then returned fire on the group that shot at him.
The children, both girls, suffered gunshot wounds to their legs, police said.Ìý
The boys told police they were walking to a pizza restaurant when they heard shots behind them.
She was shot in the ankle while playing in her front yard in the 3700 block of Minnesota Avenue.
Officers fired at the car Christopher Jones was in after it hit a police car. Police were investigating a "suspicious vehicle."
The girl was shot in the arm at a gathering at her grandmother's house on Bessie Avenue.
Police found the boy on the ground, near Highland Avenue and Union Boulevard, with a gunshot wound to his shoulder.
He wouldn't cooperate with police trying to investigate, officers said.
A bullet grazed the boy in the back of his leg in the 4700 block of South Spring Avenue.
The boy, 13, told officers he was out walking on Mimika Avenue shortly before 10 p.m. when he heard gunfire and then felt pain in his back, po…