VonDerrit Myers Jr.

VonDerrit Myers Jr., 18, was shot and killed by an off-duty St. Louis police officer, Jason Flanery, working a private security patrol job on October 8, 2014, in the city's Shaw neighborhood — exactly two months after Michael Brown's death in nearby Ferguson. Police said Myers ran from the officer, then turned and fired three shots at him during a foot chase before Flanery returned fire, striking Myers multiple times; a stolen 9mm handgun was recovered at the scene. Myers's family disputed that he was armed at the moment he was shot and said the investigation contained inconsistencies. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce reviewed the case independently of a grand jury and announced in May 2015 that criminal charges could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. No one has ever been charged in Myers's death.

St. Louis, MO · St. Louis County

• 2014: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The chase, the shooting, and Myers's death in the 4100 block of Shaw Boulevard, per the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's Force Investigation Unit and the Circuit Attorney's public report.
• A stolen 9mm Ruger handgun was recovered at the scene; gunshot residue and ballistics evidence cited in the Circuit Attorney's report were said to support that Myers fired first.
• The Circuit Attorney's Office, rather than a grand jury, independently reviewed the police department's investigation and announced on May 18, 2015 that a criminal violation could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
• Three witnesses identified in the investigation declined to cooperate with the Circuit Attorney's review, per the office's own report.
• Myers's family's attorney stated the family believed Myers was not armed at the time he was shot and announced plans for a wrongful death lawsuit.
• The shooting prompted sustained protests in St. Louis, including confrontations with police in the following weeks.

• Whether Myers in fact fired at the officer before being shot, as the Circuit Attorney's report concluded based on ballistics and gunshot residue, or whether he was unarmed at the critical moment, as his family's attorney maintained, was never tested in any criminal trial.
• What the three witnesses who declined to cooperate with the investigation might have added to the record has never been established.
• The full physical sequence of the chase through the gangway between buildings, including the officer's final shots described in the report, relies substantially on the officer's own account.

• St. Louis Public Radio — “Off-duty officer will not be charged in the shooting death of VonDerrit Myers Jr.”
• St. Louis American — “No charges filed in police shooting of VonDerrit Myers Jr...raises case of mistaken identity”
• CBS News — “VonDerrit Myers Jr. shooting: St. Louis cop who killed 18-year-old avoids charges”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs