Homicide victim may have lived at homeless encampment near riverfront

Published: May. 29, 2023 at 6:37 PM CDT

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- St. Louis Police are investigating a deadly shooting on the riverfront overnight. Police responded to the intersection of Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive around 4:30 a.m.

According to police, a 42-year-old man was shot in his side. Police said he was conscious when paramedics loaded him into an ambulance but died later at the hospital.

Police have not released the man’s name but two people confirmed to News 4 that he was a resident of a homeless encampment a block to the north. They said he went by the nickname, “Copper Mike.”

John Hitch lives in the encampment.

“Every now and again, bad things happen to good people, even in the homeless population,” he said.

In March, the city of St Louis cleared out a homeless encampment under a pavilion near Laclede’s Landing where the former President Casino riverboat docked. A new encampment sprang up just north of the previous one, along the flood wall.

“We’re a community of people back there and some of us are addicts and some of us are recovering addicts, just trying to make it, that’s it,” said Hitch.

The section of Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard where the shooting occurred was blocked off to vehicle traffic.