An 18-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shooting to death Thursday morning a St. Louis County police officer. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCullough says Trenton Forster opened fire when officer Blake Snyder arrived on the scene of a disturbance call in the south St. Louis County community of Green Park. The suspect was reportedly trying to get in the door of a home.
Trenton Forster (Photo by St. Louis County Police/UPI)
“He (Forster) knew the family there. Yes, including a young girl there about the same age,” says McCullough. “They certainly knew each other and were friends but a dating relationship, I have no idea.”
A second officer on the scene fired several shots at Forster. The suspect is in stable condition at a hospital.
St. Louis County Police chief Jon Belmar says Forster has a felony narcotics case. Snyder was part of that case, but Belmar wouldn’t go as far to say that the shooting is a result of that case.
“They (police) work in an incredibly difficult environment on an ideal day,” says Belmar. “At times as we have seen, it is an environment that can be incredibly dangerous.”
Forster is also charged with armed criminal action. He is in custody on a $1 million bond.
Snyder is the 10th St. Louis County officer to be killed in the line of duty since the department’s start in 1955.
He has a wife and a two-year-old son.
