ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI — A 77-year-old retired police captain, who served with the St. Louis Police Department for 38 years, was gunned down in cold blood by someone looting a pawn shop.
Police received a call around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning about a person who had been shot. When they arrived, they found David Dorn, already deceased.
St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden confirmed the information during a press conference Tuesday. He said 55 businesses including the pawn shop reported property damage overnight following protests in downtown St. Louis over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“During a looting process, David Dorn was exercising law enforcement training that he learned here, so in his honor, we are wearing our mourning bands,” he said.
via local media
Dorn is said to have helped out with businesses in the area, and would go check things out anytime an alarm would go off. Friends with the pawn shop owner, Dorn would do what he could to help anyone in need.
A bystander was recording video via Facebook live, and walked up to Dorn as he lay on the street. Realizing the severity of the situation, the bystander tried to comfort Dorn and repetedly said “stay with me.”
Other people in the area also offered comforting words to Dorn, while others called police to notify them of what happened.
While we won’t share the video directly here, we are providing a link below. This is something that we have debated doing, but decided to do so because this is what police are up against, and this is what citizens are up against during these chaotic riots and rampant looting.
A man, who dedicated his life to his city, has his life slip away before the cameras in a cold and heartless manner. This man has a wife, a family, people who love him. He died at the hands of an opportunistic thug, who likely had absolutely nothing to do with the protesting. These animals roam our streets now more than ever, taking advantage of the chaos and not caring who they mow down in their path.
The man behind the camera in the video says a thousand times, “Over TV’s, man?!” He yells at one particular man running from the scene, possibly running from inside the store. Watching, one would wish he would help, but we can’t always pick who is around when we need help the most. Sadly, it’s likely that even a trained bystander wouldn’t have been able to save him.
Early in the video, there appears to be something shiny near Dorn’s right hand, and could have possibly been a firearm. Less than a minute later, however, that item is no longer in the video.
*WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT*
Once again, please use discretion when clicking the following link: Link to video
I know that the people who are killing others are not the same people who are peacefully protesting. These killers are simply opportunistic criminals, taking advantage of their current surroundings. We can only hope that the person responsible for this senseless murder is captured, caged up and brought to justice.
