ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A Bel-Ridge, Missouri, man is due in court next week after being arrested Sunday for damaging a pair of hotel rooms with gunfire.
According to the Berkeley Police Department’s probable cause statement, the shooting happened at the Travelodge by Wyndham hotel in the 9600 block of Natural Bridge Road.
On Sunday, a hotel employee saw what appeared to be bullet holes coming from one occupied room and ballistic damage to the unoccupied room across the hallway. The employee contacted police and asked them to remove the occupant, later identified as Richard A. Smith Jr. (age not provided).
Smith allegedly told police he didn’t know what caused the damage to his door and the room across the hall.
Police took Smith into custody and searched his hotel room. They found a loaded firearm on the bed, along with two shell casings. Smith has a prior conviction for second-degree robbery and thus is prohibited from possessing a weapon.
The bathroom door was also locked. Police said Smith wouldn’t tell them if anyone was in there. The hotel employee was asked to unlock the door.
Police entered the bathroom and discovered it had been damaged and that the toilet tank cover had been removed and smashed.
Across the hallway, police found the unoccupied room had ballistic damage to the bathtub.
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Smith with unlawful possession of a firearm, discharging a firearm at or from a vehicle at a person, vehicle, or habitable structure, and first-degree property damage. Smith remains jailed on a $100,000 cash-only bond.
Smith has a bond reduction hearing scheduled for Feb. 18 and a preliminary hearing on March 11.