ST. LOUIS – A Tuesday night shootout at a Qdoba restaurant in the Central West End was caught on surveillance video. Muzzle flashes can be seen on the video as restaurant customers scatter for cover.
The Qdoba window was shot out and shattered concrete flew like powder. Witnesses counted 12 to 16 gunshots, including some from a man who pulled a rifle from his car.
“A big rifle! I heard it too,” restaurant employee Christopher Buckingham said. “(Customers) ran under the desks, hid under the desks, hid in the back of the store, you know, until everything went down, and everybody evacuated.”
It happened just a half block from the SLU campus in front of a busy strip mall. The fence out front is now punctured with gunfire. Ballistic damage in both directions give the appearance of Swiss cheese.
The Qdoba window is boarded up and parts of the building took hits, along with vehicles. We also found remnants of a car window shot out, along with a medical glove indicating someone was treated at the scene.
A spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department identified two victims who are also listed as suspects. The police are seeking criminal charges against those individuals.
The news of only two reported shot in this case sounds incredible to Otice Bell. He claimed that he was once unintentionally shot.
“This does bring back memories,” he said. “I was caught in the crossfire. I was only 10 years old.”
Dozens of people were around, some driving by, like a city bus, just before the shootout. The video also showed a woman who was crossing Lindell toward the location of the shooting. She noticed the building tension and turned around.
It’s that situational awareness Bell says everyone must have.
“This could have happened to anybody,” he said. “This could have been my mother.”
He’s thankful he was not there, adding that it was the first night he was not at the strip mall getting takeout in a long while.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Bell said. “And that day, my girlfriend actually cooked.”