ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A mother and her son face felony charges after a bar fight involving shots fired last month in north St. Louis County.
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged Damon Stevens, 36, with two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of armed criminal action in the investigation. Prosecutors also charged Demona Payne, 54, with one count of hindering prosecution of a felony.
Investigators say Stevens is still “at large” as of Tuesday.
Stevens is accused of being involved in a brawl and firing shots, while Payne is accused of attempting to obstruct the investigation by withholding information and misleading officers about surveillance footage.
According to court documents obtained by FOX 2, the fight broke out on the evening of Oct. 19 at the Nexxt Time Café at 10466 West Florissant Avenue. Police later learned that two people were shot or struck by a gun.
Court documents allege that Stevens was involved in a brawl when a victim from the outside tried to pull him out of the fight. A short time later, a confrontation between that victim and Stevens escalated, which allegedly led to the victim hitting Stevens in the face and Stevens firing a shot at the victim.
Authorities say the victim was shot in the arm and Stevens left the bar some time after the shots fired.
Per court documents, police spoke to the manager of Nexxt Time Café upon arrival, and she was later identified as Stevens’ mother.
Court documents allege, after police asked about surveillance video over the fight, Payne showed officers a surveillance system and claimed she was unfamiliar with it. Investigators say she provided a password that ultimately locked the system and that she asserted that one set of cameras had never worked.
Police later obtained a search warrant for the cafe’s security system, which revealed that the one set of cameras Payne previously claimed was inoperable had recorded video of the fight and shots fired. Around that time, witnesses of the fight and shots fired had also informed police that Stevens was Payne’s son. Video footage reviewed by police reportedly shows Payne pushing her son out of the door after the shots fired.
When confronted about this footage and a photo lineup, Payne refused to identify her son or any other individuals shown, including some employees, per court documents.
Payne was later arrested, but investigators say she has declined to give a formal statement since the search warrant. She was booked into jail in St. Louis County on a $50,000 bond, per Missouri court records.