ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A St. Louis man is facing charges following the shooting death of an 18-year-old at Spanish Lake Market earlier this month.
Ken’Vonte Bownes, 21, is facing charges of first-degree robbery and armed criminal action after being arrested Thursday.
According to a probable cause statement, surveillance footage from the Spanish Lake Market along Larimore Road shows Bownes enter the establishment with a gun on Feb. 16. While exiting, 18-year-old Demond Taylor was walking in. They made eye contact before Bownes shot Taylor several times.
Documents added that Bownes then ran to his car before going back inside, displaying his gun while removing a firearm from Taylor. Bownes then fled the scene in his Audi.
Taylor was transported to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Cell phone records show Bownes’ device in the area during the crime.
When he was brought into custody, he initially denied visiting Spanish Lake Market recently. He later admitted to shooting Taylor out of self-defense, and that Taylor was still alive when he retrieved his gun.
Bownes is being held on a $200,000 cash-only bond.