4 dead in apparent murder-suicide by business owner in St. Louis

Two men and two women were found shot dead inside a St. Louis healthcare business after an apparent workplace murder-suicide in which the owner killed his employees before killing himself, police said Thursday.

No one else was injured, and police said it appeared there were no witnesses.

A woman apparently related to one of the victims fell to her knees and started crying when she and others arrived at the scene, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“The gentleman who killed the other three people inside the office appeared to have an argument with others and at some point opened fire with a weapon,” St. Louis Police Capt. Michael Sack told reporters in a televised news briefing Thursday afternoon.

The argument, Sack said, appeared to be brief. The ages of the four people ranged from early 40s to mid-50s, and their names haven’t been released.

A semiautomatic handgun was found next to the owner’s body, police said.

The office shares a building with other businesses, Sack said, and other people heard the shots but didn’t see the shooting.

Local news reports identified the business as AK Home Health Care. Michael Graff, who has a law office in the building, told the Post-Dispatch that the business was owned and staffed by Somali immigrants.

“I saw a police car screeching down the street with its flashers on,” a man who identified himself as Vincent told KTVI-TV. He said he was having lunch nearby when the shooting occurred, but hadn’t heard any gunshots. “A woman came running out from the building with her shoes in her hand, and she dropped her shoes in the middle of the street.”

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