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ST. ANN 鈥� A St. Ann police officer fatally shot a man early Wednesday after chasing him to a Bel-Ridge home, where the man pulled out a gun, police said.

Britny Boyd identified the dead man as her husband, 37-year-old Troy Hamilton.

"They robbed me of my dreams," Boyd said Wednesday morning. "They robbed me of my future."

The man was shot about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday at a home in the 3300 block of Welsberg Drive in Bel-Ridge, police said.聽

The incident started in the neighboring municipality of St. John, said Sgt. Benjamin Santoyo with the North County Police Cooperative, which was asked by St. Ann to investigate the shooting.

Hamilton was in a car that ran a stop sign near St. Charles Rock and North and South roads, Santoyo said at an afternoon press conference. St. John officers tried to pull the car over, but it didn't stop, and officers started the chase.

"The vehicle was not stopping for them," Santoyo said.

St. Ann police joined in, put a tracker on the car, and followed it to the Welsberg house, southeast of Natural Bridge Road and Interstate 170.

There, Hamilton got out of the car, there was a "physical altercation," and Hamilton pulled out a gun, Santoyo said.

Two officers fired shots at Hamilton. One had six years of police experience, the other seven, Santoyo said.

He did not further describe the altercation or gunfire. Santoyo said officers did not know the Welsberg home was where Hamilton lived.

And he said the gun Hamilton had was stolen.

Santoyo said one officer was taken to a hospital for treatment, but wouldn't say more.

Boyd, Hamilton's wife, said she and Hamilton had been married for about six years and have lived for about three years in the Welsberg house.

Hamilton was a stepfather to her four children, two of whom are adults. He did not have children of his own.

鈥淗e was a really good guy," she said.

Hamilton had what Boyd described as a big 鈥淜ool-Aid smile鈥� and he always cleaned the house and made sure she had food.

Late Tuesday, just before the shooting, Boyd said her husband took her red 2007 G5 Pontiac with another man to go get food and pick her up a pack of smokes.

鈥淚 know he was gonna be bringing back some cigarettes for me, because I was smoking my last cigarette, and he really liked to keep me with my cigarettes,鈥� she said with a small chuckle.

Boyd said she was in the home鈥檚 front bedroom watching tv when she heard two gunshots at about 12:20 am.

She said she ran to the front door and opened it.

There, through the glass in the storm door, she saw Hamilton laying face down on the porch and an officer standing in the grass just a few feet away.

鈥淚 could hear Troy mumble something, but I couldn't make it out,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I said, 鈥楤aby, I'm right here.鈥� But (the police) were telling me to get back. So it was like I couldn't help him without probably being shot too.鈥�

She said his body remained on the porch for almost six hours, uncovered for three.

Police told her to stay inside the house while they investigated, she said.

Terrel Davis said he was the man in the car with Hamilton. He said he wasn't sure why police were chasing them. He just saw squad car lights turn on behind them.

"We drove two or three minutes ... came in the driveway and then (Hamilton) got out to go in the house," Davis said. "And then the next thing you know you hear shots."

Davis said he was still in the car during the shooting and didn't witness the event itself. He saw officers run toward Hamilton, then he got out of the car and took off running.

"I was scared for my life," Davis said.

He returned to Welsberg Drive on Wednesday morning, he said, to let people know what happened.聽

Kimberly Carter-Chest, who has lived directly across the street from Boyd鈥檚 home for about five years, said the gunshots woke her up.

She went to her front door and said that at 12:23 a.m. she saw Hamilton lying face down on the front porch.

She said there were three officers in a 鈥渢hree-man stance鈥� with guns drawn near Hamilton, plus dozens of armed officers and about 17 cop cars聽lining the street, lights flashing.

She said Hamilton didn鈥檛 move and she never heard him say anything. It was 30 yards away, but she said she didn鈥檛 see a gun near him.

Both Carter-Chest and Boyd said no one approached Hamilton for 15-20 minutes after he was shot. Then an officer 鈥渘udged him with his feet to see if he was moving,鈥� Carter-Chest said. And then they turned him over and started doing CPR, she said.

Carter-Chest said she never saw an ambulance during the response.

She, like Boyd, said his body lay on the porch uncovered for three hours.

鈥淓ven when they put the tape out, the young man still wasn't covered up,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e just laid out there, just open, and drones just everywhere and he was just bleeding out.鈥�

Carter-Chest said she has a good relationship with Hamilton鈥檚 family, who she said were 鈥渄oing everything right.鈥�

She said she wants answers about why her neighbor is dead.

Midmorning Wednesday, as Boyd stood on her porch, friends and family filtered in and out, sharing long hugs. Boyd held back tears.

Next to Boyd was a stain where Hamilton鈥檚 blood had pooled just hours earlier.

鈥淚 really feel like he experienced something that scared the crap out of him,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd he felt like getting home would be better for him. But before he could get in, he grabbed the handle and they shot him in his back right here. Right here.鈥�

The storm door's handle was bent up and out, Boyd said.

Boyd said she saw the blood start to stain Hamilton鈥檚 white shirt in a circle on his back.

NAACP 最新杏吧原创 head Adolphus Pruitt said Wednesday the shooting worried him.

The St. Ann department is known for aggressive chase tactics, he said. While most in the region pursue fleeing suspects for the most serious felonies, St. Ann will chase drivers for minor offenses like expired plates and speeding. Its chief told the Post-Dispatch in a 2019 article that his officers "will chase you until the wheels fall off."

Pruitt said St. Ann has a propensity for "cops-and-robbers" policing and called the shooting "suspect."

"This could be a keystone-type cop moment," Pruitt said, "where somebody has lost his life."

Laurie Skrivan of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.