St. Louis County man charged in July 4 shooting, car theft cases

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis County man will make his first appearance in city court Monday on a litany of charges for crimes committed in St. Louis City over the past several weeks.

According to probable cause statements from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Demetrius A. Simmons, 42, is accused of a shooting on the Fourth of July, a carjacking weeks later, followed by an attempted car theft and police pursuit.

On July 4, police were dispatched to the Super 8 Motel in the 6200 block of North Broadway, in the city's North Riverfront neighborhood. When officers arrived, they were told that a man had been shot several times in his back and had been taken to the hospital. Investigators recovered shell casings in the motel parking lot.

The victim underwent life-saving surgery, police said. Days later, he told investigators that he went to the parking lot to meet with the mother of his child. He was attempting to mediate a discussion between the mother of his child and one of his friends.

Police said the mother arrived with Simmons. The group spoke for over an hour, which was recorded on hotel surveillance video.

At some point, the victim believed that the mother of his child had taken his car keys. He attempted to get them back, but she pulled away. The victim turned around to briefly walk away. According to police, that’s when Simmons took out a pistol and shot the victim six times in the back.

On July 29, police said Simmons snatched the car keys out of a woman’s hand while she was parked at a gas station in the 1300 block of North Grand Boulevard in the Grand Center neighborhood. Simmons then drove off in the woman’s 1998 Toyota Camry. The victim’s iPhone 14 was in the vehicle at the time.

The owner reported the Camry stolen on Aug. 6 after receiving vehicle identification paperwork from the dealership.

That same day, police on patrol in the Vandeventer neighborhood received word from the city’s Real Time Crime Center about a sighting of the stolen Camry at Page Boulevard and Vandeventer Avenue.

When officers located the vehicle, Simmons sped off with police in pursuit. Simmons eventually turned onto Cherokee Street and struck a 1998 Lincoln Town Car. Simmons hopped out from the vehicle while it was moving and ran off on foot. The Camry struck a nearby building and officers eventually caught and arrested Simmons.

Police said officers searched the Camry and found a black Taurus G2C 9mm handgun under the driver’s floor mat.

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office charged Simmons with first-degree assault, armed criminal action, stealing a motor vehicle, stealing, first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident, two counts of resisting arrest, and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.