ATF Archives - Missourinet

U.S. Attorney General: Since Operation Legend, St. Louis murder rate has declined by 49%

October 15, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

U.S. Attorney General William Barr has announced today in St. Louis that a federal operation has led to the arrests of more than 650 suspects – 34 of which are accused of murder. The federal effort, called Operation Legend, is named after a four-year-old Kansas City boy killed over the summer while sleeping.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr meets with members of the St. Louis Police Department Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, in St. Louis. The officers are among several in the department who have been shot in the line of duty this year. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, Pool)

The St. Louis initiative includes 124 agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FBI, ATF, DEA and U.S. Marshals Service. According to Barr, since the start of Operation Legend in St. Louis, the city’s murder rate has declined by 49% and reports of rape have dropped by 38%.

During today’s roundtable, Jeff Jensen, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, says his office has never prosecuted so many people in a short period of time.

St. Louis Police Chief Jon Hayden says the additional boots on the ground have been desperately needed.

“In an unprecedented surge of gun violence over the past sixteen weeks, St. Louis at its peak has averaged as many as 10 homicides per week, bringing us currently up to 212 homicides compared to 161 at the same time last year,” says Hayden.

He says nine officers and a retired police captain have been shot since June – two were killed.

“The violence which we have experienced this summer against our police officers is none like we have ever encountered in the history of our department,” he says. “In spite of this ongoing violence directed at our officers, they have continued to demonstrate a superior level of courage, dedication and restraint.”

The anti-crime program has been launched in nine U.S. cities. Barr says more than 5,000 people have been arrested nationwide since the effort started earlier this year.

Parson to boost Missouri National Guard response to unrest

June 2, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson says more than 1,000 National Guard soldiers will be called up to help crack down on the violent and destructive turmoil going on around Missouri. On Saturday, the governor signed an executive order activating the National Guard to help with ongoing turbulence.

Gov. Mike Parson

Protests have sprung up in several Missouri cities since last week’s police brutality death of George Floyd, an African-American man from Minnesota. A white police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes while the man was on the ground face down in handcuffs.

When night falls, the surroundings have become unruly in Kansas City and St. Louis. Four St. Louis police officers were injured during shootings Monday night and a retired officer there was killed by looters. News and police vehicles have been set on fire in both cities. Looters have broken into businesses and damaged property. Officers have been injured by flying objects. People in the crowd have been pepper spray and tear gas has been ignited.

During a press conference today, Parson says he’s not going to tolerate total chaos.

“We’re not going to have police officers, we’re not going to have citizens of Missouri being shot in our streets in this state and we’re going to put an end to it with whatever forces I have as governor of the state of Missouri. Whether that’s every member of the Highway Patrol, whether that’s every member of the National Guard, I will call them all out to stop the violence,” says Parson.

Brig. Gen. Levon Cumpton, the Adjutant General, says the state has more than 10,000 National Guard soldiers.

The governor, a former Polk County sheriff, says there must be law and order in America for people to survive.

“We all need to take a little more accountability,” he says. “I don’t care whether you’re an elected official, whether you’re an everyday citizen, whether you’re a mom, whether you’re a grandma or whoever you might be. You need to start standing up and protecting one another and not engage and not trying to create chaos and commit criminal activities. They’re really trying to change a cause that definitely needs to be changed. Things need to be done different in society. We need to address issues that the African-American community have, but not through violence – not through what we’re seeing out there on the streets.”

Parson thinks the behavior is organized crime that is different from the 2014 Ferguson riots.

“When all the sudden you’ve seen pallets of bricks show up or pallets of blocks that show up, you’re having a strategy where dumpsters are where you pull them out and you set them on fire, they know to try to burn police cars because it gets more of the media coverage, and their main focus is to try to get to the police stations or the law so they can disrupt the services there. So, they have a plan of how they do sweeps, they have a plan of how they attack police officers,” says Parson.

The FBI and its SWAT team, ATF and Missouri Highway Patrol are also helping on the ground in St. Louis.

Missouri National Guard, Missouri Highway Patrol and FBI helping to patrol St. Louis; curfew in effect (AUDIO)

June 2, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

St. Louis’ Public Safety Director has announced that the FBI, ATF, the Missouri National Guard, the Missouri Highway Patrol and other agencies arrived overnight to help patrol St. Louis, and will continue to do so until further notice.

Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards tells reporters that more than 200 people engaged in “persistent criminal activity” overnight. He says four St. Louis police officers were shot, and that a retired officer was killed by a looter.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol logo (courtesy of Patrol Lieutenant Collin Stosberg)

The four officers who were shot have been released from the hospital.

“To the criminals that inflicted crime on our city last night, we have your surveillance pictures,” Edwards says. “And I will use every tool available to me to count every freckle on your face until you have been identified and arrested.”

Edwards says the city also requested the FBI surveillance plane and the FBI swat team, and they also arrived overnight. The St. Louis County swat team is also assisting.

Edwards says his officers are frustrated when fellow officers tarnish their badge, referring to George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. He says his officers joined in solidarity with protesters on Monday afternoon.

“Yesterday evening and throughout the early morning, many of the same protesters that our officers protected turned violent against them,” Edwards tells St. Louis reporters. He says they threw objects at officers and used fireworks against them.

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson says has signed an executive order establishing a citywide curfew, after the overnight burning and looting. She says retired officer David Dorn was shot to death last night, outside a looted pawn shop.

Mayor Krewson describes what happened overnight as a riot, adding that it was “a terrible night for St. Louis.”

“What started as a very non-violent and peaceful demonstration and protest ended in looting, shooting, burning and attacks on law enforcement,” Krewson says.

She tells reporters that hundreds of vehicles were going to various locations.

As for the curfew, it takes effect tonight at 9 and goes until 6 a.m. It will continue daily until further notice.

“9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the morning, everybody needs to be off the streets, you need to be at home,” says Krewson.

There are exceptions to the order. They include those traveling to and from work, government employees performing work assignments, the news media and those traveling for medical treatment. The homeless are also exempt.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner also spoke today, saying that while she wants peaceful protesters to continue to make their voices heard, she will use the full power of law to prosecute those who shoot and murder police officers.

Prosecutor Gardner also urged peaceful protesters to help her office “root out those whose actions work directly against justice for all.”

Luetkemeyer: ATF denies wanting MO concealed carry holder list

April 17, 2013 By Mike Lear

An official with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has told Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer it was not part of a request from the Social Security Administration, for a list of concealed carry permit holders in Missouri.

Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-St. Elizabeth) fields questions from the media about the sharing of concealed carry information with the Social Security Administration.

An e-mail obtained from the Highway Patrol indicated the Bureau would be taking part in a joint investigation with the Administration that would use that list.

Congressman Luetkemeyer’s office says the Bureau believes it was mentioned in that e-mail by an intelligence analyst with the Missouri Information Analysis Center to “add weight to the request” for the list.

Luetkemeyer meets in-person tomorrow with the Social Security Administration’s Inspector General in his continuing investigation of the release of that list.

Senator: ATF also wanted Missouri concealed carry holder information

April 16, 2013 By Mike Lear

The Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman says he’s learned that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also wanted a list of Missouri concealed carry permit holders’ names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth.

State Senator Kurt Schaefer (right) announces the latest findings in his probe into the release of Missouri CCW holders’ information, joined by Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder (left).

Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) says according to an internal e-mail from the Highway Patrol, when the Social Security Administration requested a list of Missouri concealed carry permit holders, it said it was to conduct a joint investigation with the ATF.

See the internal e-mails Schaefer refers to (pdf).

A list was sent to the Social Security Administration but Schaefer doesn’t know if one went to the Bureau

“All I know at this point is it appears from the internal documents that the Department of Revenue, before they produced the information, knew that it was a joint request from both.”

Schaefer says, that the Revenue Department and Highway Patrol knew the ATF wanted the list is what concerns him the most.

“We’ve had a couple weeks’ worth of hearings and we have heard nothing about ATF, anyone knowing that this was going to ATF, until we actually came across it in the documents.”

The letter Schaefer is referring to on Monday was read to the House Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability by Highway Patrol Superintendent, Colonel Ron Replogle. Replogle did not state whether information was sent to the ATF.

Asked whether it is appropriate for the Bureau or the Social Security Administration, both law enforcement agencies, to have access to that information, Schaefer says it might be on an individual basis. He says to use the entire list of more than 160,000 Missourians who have CCWs is profiling.

A request has been made to have a Social Security Administration investigator testify to the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the Senator says he plans to make a similar request to the ATF to find out if it received the CCW list.

Schaefer says the documents also reveal that the second disc sent to the Social Security Administration was not encrypted, as lawmakers have been told.

“Apparently it was just on an XL protected, password protected file, and the actual password was on a piece of paper in the package with the discs.”

That password was “MOccw.”

The development has caught the attention of Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer. In a statement, his office says Luetkemeyer has sent a letter to the ATF asking about how involved it was in what he calls a “scandal.”

See Congressman Luetkemeyer’s letter to acting ATF Director B. Todd Jones.