Police kill man they say pointed rifle at them in Jennings

St. Louis County officers, who patrol Jennings under contract, said they recovered a fully loaded rifle from the man after he fell. The officers believe the man tried to fire at them, but it appears the rifle jammed, according to St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar.

“These things happen very quickly, and there is not a lot of time to do anything but react on your experience and your training,” Belmar said at a news conference Thursday. “That’s what these officers did. I’m very proud of them.”

Police identified the man Thursday afternoon as Michael M. Willis Jr., 42, of the 6100 block of Jefferson Avenue in Berkeley.

Willis had gone to a town home at the Windfall Trace apartments at least twice on Wednesday night, apparently looking for his ex-girlfriend, authorities said. The complex is on Old Lucas and Hunt Road. It’s about a mile from the Canfield Green apartments in Ferguson, which was the site of two weeks of unrest after a Ferguson officer shot and killed an unarmed teen on Aug. 9.

County police Sgt. Brian Schellman said police were called to the Windfall Trace complex about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday by a woman who said a man had knocked on her door carrying what she thought was a sawed-off shotgun. The gun later found near Willis’ body was a Beretta rifle with a collapsible stock.

The woman knows Willis’ ex-girlfriend, but the ex-girlfriend was not in the home at the time, police said. The woman didn’t open the door for Willis but saw him through a window. By the time police arrived at the town home, in the 8000 block of Anodyne Lane, he had left.

Witnesses said they knew the man and said he owned a rifle. Officers tried to determine whether Willis had gone to an address they had for him in St. Louis. They planned to send an arrest team there, but before they could do so, the woman in Jennings called back.

It was about 10:50 p.m. Wednesday and Willis was again knocking on her door, she told police. This time she didn’t see a gun. She told dispatchers that she saw him get into a small black four-door vehicle and leave.

Two officers pulled into the complex. They saw the black car moving slowly toward them on Jeffkenn Drive, police said. They saw Willis reach to the passenger seat and grab a rifle, police said. The black car suddenly raced toward them, in the 2600 block of Jeffkenn Drive, Schellman said.

Willis’ car hit one police car, then careened into a second police car, police said. An officer in the first car was treated for minor injuries.

Willis’ car hit a curb and a tire blew, police said. He jumped out of his car with a rifle and ran behind the complex. Officers ran after him and apparently had cornered him in a fenced-in construction area. The foot chase lasted no longer than about 45 seconds, police estimated.

He ran past a backhoe, then “turned, spun and pointed the rifle directly at one of the police officers,” Belmar said.

Both officers opened fire, killing Willis. They fired a total of about 25 shots, Belmar said. After the shooting, police called for paramedics, who found Willis dead.

Police said three witnesses corroborated the officers’ account of the shooting.

A witness told Post-Dispatch news partner Fox 2 that he saw officers chasing the man and heard them yell at him to freeze. The witness, Gaddiel Patterson, said the man turned toward the officers with the gun and the police fired.

Authorities said Willis had an extensive criminal record. He had served eight years in a Missouri prison for crimes including drug and weapons convictions, they said.

Police said a surveillance video shows Willis with a rifle, but does not show the shooting. The county police department has begun issuing body cameras to officers, but the officers in this incident were not wearing them.

The two officers who fired shots were St. Louis County police officers assigned to the Jennings patrol detail. They were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. Each has been with the department about four years.

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect city for Willis' home address.