Texas man charged in fatal shooting of Missouri teen charged in second highway shooting incident
Willie James Herndon, 43, faces federal and state charges in connection with the death of 17-year-old Alyssa Wilson and a separate shooting days earlier.
What happened
Alyssa Wilson, 17, was shot and killed on Interstate 170 in Overland, Missouri, on 14 October while driving to a Halloween party at St Louis Zoo called Boo at the Zoo. A single shot struck her in the back, incapacitating her and causing her vehicle to crash into a concrete median; she was pronounced dead at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Willie James Herndon, 43, of Texas, has been charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with Wilson's death. Federal court documents reveal Herndon has also been charged in a second shooting incident on 11 October, just days earlier, when a vehicle was shot after exiting Interstate 55 in Missouri. Surveillance footage captured a white SUV matching Herndon's Buick Enclave fleeing that scene, and a shell casing was recovered for ballistics testing. On 16 October, federal prosecutors arrested Herndon at a Days Inn in Caseyville, Illinois, where they found an ABC-15 rifle in plain view, ammunition matching that used in Wilson's shooting, a gas station receipt from near the Interstate 170 scene, two license plates, and handwritten notes describing police vehicles. Herndon has been charged federally with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Context
Wilson had no known relationship to Herndon and was killed while en route to a Halloween-themed community event. She was 60 days shy of her 18th birthday and her family had planned her first family vacation to Disney following her birthday. The recovery of matching ammunition and shell casings, combined with surveillance evidence linking Herndon's vehicle to both scenes, suggests prosecutors believe the incidents are related, though ballistics testing was pending at the time of reporting.