BELLEVILLE • Authorities said two men jailed on a string of charges in St. Clair County are connected to the murder of Bobby Christman, a DeSmet Jesuit High School graduate who was fatally shot this month in downtown St. Louis.
Aza K. Thompson and Tony Ross, both from East St. Louis, were held in the St. Clair County Jail in lieu of $750,000 bail on various Illinois felony charges, but not murder.
State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly announced Monday night that he filed multiple charges “related to the ongoing investigation of the homicide” of Christman, who was 19 and lived in south St. Louis County.
Christman was fatally shot about 12:45 a.m. Jan. 11 in an apparent robbery attempt as he sat in a parked car with his brother and girlfriend at Lucas Avenue and North 15th Street, near the Washington Avenue entertainment district.
Lauren Trager, spokeswoman for the St. Louis circuit attorney’s office, said in an email Tuesday that no charges have been filed in the Christman murder and that “the police are still actively investigating.”
Authorities say Thompson and Ross are the men who exchanged shots with St. Louis and East St. Louis police who approached them in the Washington Park area the night after Christman was slain.
No officers were hit.
The suspects abandoned a car after a short chase and ran off near 50th Street and Caseyville Avenue, officials said.
According to St. Clair County court records, Thompson, 18, was arrested Jan. 13, the same day he was accused of taking weapons onto school property in East St. Louis. Police there arrested him in a stolen car.
Thompson was charged with unlawful possession with the intent to deliver cocaine; armed violence over allegations of having at least five weapons, including an Intratec CAT 45 pistol; unlawful possession of a stolen motor vehicle, a 2004 Honda CRV; and unlawful use of a weapon on school property, for having guns in a vehicle at East St. Louis Senior High School.
His public defender, Karen Craig, could not be reached for comment.
The Illinois State Police arrested Ross, 19, over the weekend, said Capt. James Morrisey.
Ross was charged with attempted first-degree murder for shooting at a police officer, Brian McGlynn, and aggravated unlawful possession of a stolen motor vehicle, a Chrysler Sebring. No attorney was listed for him in court files.
Morrisey said investigators were searching for a third suspect in connection with the shots fired at the officers.
