Oh Mercy,Mercy Me...

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Woman charged in killing of teen
By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/27/2007

A shooting victim is loaded into an ambulance Monday afternoon on Prigge in Spanish Lake. (J.B. Forbes/P-D)

St. Louis County prosecutors charged Alma King, 51, on Tuesday with second-degree murder in the death of a 15-year-old in a confrontation the day before with a group of teenagers outside King's home in the Spanish lake area of north St. Louis County.Police said King and her 16-year-old son opened fire into a crowd Monday afternoon. Her son was referred to the juvenile court for possible charges. Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch said his office will review the case to determine if adult charges are appropriate for him.The charge identified the victim as Jocques Billups, 15 . Friends said he attended Hazelwood East High School with King's son. Another student in the crowd, 16, was wounded.McCulloch and police declined to discuss the specifics of the case, particularly what led to the confrontation.Witnesses told police and reporters that a crowd of teens gathered outside the house, in the 1100 block of Prigge Avenue , about 3 p.m. Monday, calling out King's son for a fight. A neighbor called police for help, and county officers were dispatched to the house for a "fight in progress," officials said. Dispatchers changed the call to "shots fired" just as the officers arrived .Police said no one called for help from inside the house before the shots rang out.
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Our earlier story:
A St. Louis County woman was charged with second-degree murder today in the killing of a teenager at her home on Monday.

Alma King, 51, was charged in the shooting incident. Her son, who also was involved in the shooting, has been referred to family court. His name was not made public; neither was the name of the teen who was killed.Earlier today, Hazelwood School Superintendent Chris Wright said that district officials had no indication that trouble was brewing before Monday’s fatal incident in which one teen was killed and a second was injured in Spanish Lake.She said there were no reports of any altercation on Monday at Hazelwood East Senior High School, in the 11000 block of Dunn Road. The students involved in the shooting attended that high school. “Generally, kids get along fine at school,” Wright said at a news conference. She added that the boy who was killed had “five or six cousins or siblings” in several Hazelwood district schools. Wright said she did not know the student involved in the incident personally, but she believed the dead victim was a high school freshman and the child who was wounded was a sophomore.Wright said there had been no recent reports of bullying at the school.District officials are still trying to determine what started the fight.Wright said she did not know whether Monday's shooting involved gangs, in particular a group called the Black Mob. She said some district students are connected to gangs but she did not know whether those students were connected with students involved in Monday's incident.“What we know for sure is that one of our children is dead, another is in the hospital, and another is in jail – along with his mother – as a result of a senseless violent act in our community,” Wright said. She said additional security and police officers have been on hand all day at all Hazelwood schools.No names of the shooting victims or the mother and son who fired on them have been released.
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Our earlier story:

ST. LOUIS COUNTY — One teenager was killed and a second was injured Monday after a mother and son opened fire on a group of youths who had come to their home looking for a fight. Witnesses estimated the size of the group of young men at between 12 and 30. They came to the family's house in the 1100 block of Prigge Avenue, near Larimore Road in the Spanish Lake area, to challenge a 16-year-old boy to a fight just after 3 p.m., authorities said.The disagreement had begun at Hazelwood East High School, police and witnesses said.The crowd called for the boy to come outside and fight, according to authorities and witnesses. The boy's older brother, 18, showed up at the door with a baseball bat, but the group of teens continued calling for their target to appear. They pelted the house with rolled-up newspapers and rocks."It was like a swarm of bees," the brother said later.The mother of the boys came out on the stoop with a handgun, and the boy finally came out — but armed with a rifle, authorities and witnesses said."They both began shooting, and the (teens) started running off," said Lindsay Hellyer, who was visiting her mother across the street. "I've never seen anything like this."Hellyer estimated that the mother fired five to 10 shots and that the son fired about 15 at the fleeing group of teens.The boy who was killed was 16. Another, also 16, was being treated for injuries described as not life-threatening. Their names were not immediately available. Police arrested the mother, age 51, and the younger son. They had not yet been charged Monday night. Both weapons were recovered, authorities said.The two remained in custody this morning, said Sgt. Rick Eckhard, spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department. He said police would hand their findings over to prosecutors this morning for a decision on whether to file charges. The father of the young men and husband of the woman charged said he gave police a videotape of the incident from his home security system.He said his heart aches for the boy who was killed, but he maintained that his wife and son were the victims in the altercation.He said he had been rehabbing a house in the neighborhood and headed home after he saw the group of boys gathering. He tried to fend them off as they rushed the door, he said.The father said that his sons have been harassed at school and that some youths had tried to start a fight with them earlier in the day."It saddens me to see these kids acting like barbarians out there, attacking my family," he said.He said his wife and son acted in self-defense. "I feel that both of them acted within the scope of the law," he said.The father said his family has been targeted for years because he is an outspoken community activist who tries to improve the neighborhood and combat crime. He said he installed the surveillance camera at his house after past incidents.He said he legally owns the guns involved and used them for hunting.Hazelwood School District Superintendent Chris L. Wright issued a statement saying the district would have additional security and police on hand at the school today."We are sickened by the senseless death of our student," Wright said in the statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. We have made arrangements to send crisis counselors to the school … to support our children and our staff members." The incident left neighbors of the family shocked."They're very nice people," said neighbor Frank Krehmeyer. "This is hard to believe."

Bill Bryan, Joel Currier, Paul Hampel, Greg Jonsson and Harry Levins of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

Check out CW11 News video coverage of event by clicking here.