ST. PETERS — A man charged with shooting a woman during a purse snatching outside a St. Peters Schnucks grocery store remains at large, police said Wednesday.
Tyrone Miller Jr., 24, of O’Fallon, Illinois, is charged with first-degree assault, attempted robbery and armed criminal action, but has not been arrested in the case.
Charging documents allege Miller walked up to a 52-year-old woman who was sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle about 8 p.m. March 3 while her husband was loading groceries into the car in the parking lot of the Schnucks at 48 Plaza 94. Miller is accused of shooting the woman in the ear while attempting to steal her purse.
The woman’s husband told St. Peters police Miller he heard his wife yell: “No!” before the sound of gunshots, court documents say.
The husband then spotted a man getting into a silver SUV and called 911.
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The woman was taken to a hospital where she was considered stable by Sunday.
St. Peters police matched latent fingerprints on the victim’s car to Miller, who was also suspected in a string of similar purse snatchings, including a robbery outside a Diergergs grocery store in Shrewsbury. He has not been charged in any of those cases.
A silver Honda SUV owned by Avis Car Rental that police believe Miller used in the crimes was found abandoned Sunday in East St. Louis.
Court records show Miller pleaded guilty in St. Clair County to felony counts of domestic battery and unlawful restraint in March 2021.
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