ST. LOUIS – A man accused of shooting and killing another man execution-style in Downtown St. Louis two years ago was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial earlier this week.
On Wednesday, a St. Louis circuit court judge ordered the criminal case of DeShawn Thomas to be suspended and placed on a mental inactive docket.
The judge also ordered that Thomas be placed in the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health. The department is expected to complete a mental evaluation within six months, which should include a medical opinion on whether Thomas is likely to regain mental fitness to stand trial.
Thomas initially pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges in May 2023.
The charges stem back to an incident in February 2023 that was captured on surveillance cameras and cellphone video. The video appeared to show an execution-style murder in broad daylight.
The shooting death investigated in connection with the video happened around 10 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2023, in the 700 block of Tucker Boulevard. Police report that David Saldana died in the shooting.
According to court documents previously obtained by FOX 2, Thomas and Saldana got into an altercation at the Shell station at Tucker and Convention Plaza. Police claim Thomas first shot Saldana in the back as he ran across Tucker. After that, Saldana begged for his life, and Thomas shot him in the head, per court documents. Authorities arrested Thomas later that day.
Online Missouri court records note that a counsel status hearing in Thomas’ criminal case is scheduled for July 10.
NOTE: The video attached to the story is from FOX 2’s original reporting of the investigation on Feb. 28, 2023.