ST. LOUIS — The man shot and killed by a city police officer Saturday was Jo-Mark Jamar Willis, 27, of the 3600 block of Marine Avenue, police announced Wednesday.
The officer shot through the closed window of a department SUV after a man on the sidewalk appeared to pull a gun on him, a city police spokesman said Monday.
Willis died Saturday on South Grand Boulevard after officers said he pointed an air pistol designed to look like a handgun at them.
Department spokesman Mitch McCoy said Monday that a review of dash camera footage of the incident provided a few more details, including a timeline of the moments before the two officers opened fire.
911±¬ÁÏÍø police released this photo of a CO2-powered handgun seized from a man who was shot and killed after an encounter with police on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (Credit: 911±¬ÁÏÍø Metropolitan Police Department)
McCoy said the officers were patrolling just before 10 a.m. Saturday in the 3600 block of South Grand, south of Gravois Avenue, when they saw two men on the sidewalk.Â
One of the men was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up despite heat above 85 degrees, as well as a mask and gardening gloves, McCoy said. He appeared to be completing a hand-to-hand drug sale.Â
The officers pulled over to the sidewalk. But before they could get out, the man pulled a lookalike weapon, police officials said. They opened fire.
The man ran behind a building where an officer fired again, officials said. The man died at the scene. Police would not say whether he had drugs in his possession.
911±¬ÁÏÍø police released this photo of a CO2-powered handgun seized from a man who was shot and killed after an encounter with police on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (Credit: 911±¬ÁÏÍø Metropolitan Police Department)