ST. LOUIS — One year after 51-year-old John Christmas was killed inside a north St. Louis gas station with his own gun, his family is calling for
its closure in a recently filed lawsuit.
“It’s a difficult day,” Jerryl Christmas said. “It’s not a day I want to
remember.”
Jerryl Christmas, a former St. Louis City prosecutor, took to the streets outside the Crown Food Mart where his brother was killed with a simple message.
“When we talk about crime in this city, and we want to live safer, these are the kind of entities that we want to shut down,” Jerryl Christmas
said.
The Christmas family recently filed a wrongful death suit against the
owners of the Crown Food Mart at the intersection of Kingshighway
Boulevard and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, claiming they haven’t taken proper steps to protect customers from crime at what Attorney Jermaine
Wooten said is a nuisance property.
“Since it’s been open, certainly in the last 5 years, from 2018 until his death they’ve had all sorts of criminal activity at this gas station,” Jermaine Wooten said.
Despite the presence of security cameras both in and out of the store, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said it responded to 250 calls
for service at the station in the last year.
“If we had gotten 50 calls to any normal residence in this area, St. Louis city actually would’ve vacated that residence,” Wooten said.
“They should’ve been shut down a long time ago,” Christmas said. “They
should’ve never been able to operate this long.”
That’s why the Christmas family said in addition to seeking more than $1 million in damages, they want city leaders to close the store for good.
“As far as I’m concerned I’m past talking,” Christmas said. "I want action. I want them shut down.”
The owners of the station said they were declining comment on this story because they've yet to see the lawsuit.
https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/family-sues-for-closure-of-north- st-louis-gas-station-fatal-shooting-crown-food-mart/63-d870cf43-5b71-452c- b772-dac247b49039
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