ST. LOUIS • A teenager from St. Louis was charged with murder Friday afternoon after his accomplice in an attempted burglary was fatally shot by a homeowner, police said.
Michael A. Bryant III, 17, was charged Friday with second-degree murder and attempted burglary. Police said Bryant’s accomplice, Demetrius Murphy, 15, was fatally shot by a resident of a home near Gravois Park when the teens tried to break into the home.
A court filing says Bryant and Murphy tried to break into a home in the 3700 block of Tennessee Avenue through a kitchen window about 1:24 Friday morning. At the time, two people were home: a man, 33, and a woman, 28. The man went outside “to investigate the activity,” police said. The man shot Murphy as Murphy approached him.
Neighbor Rodney Rankins, 65, said he heard the fatal shots early Friday morning.
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“I heard two shots ... then a third shot rang out,” Rankins said.
Police did not identify the man who had fired the gun but said his actions appeared to be justified.
Under Missouri’s castle doctrine, people who encounter an intruder in their homes or vehicles — or on their property, under a more recent expansion of the law — can use deadly force without fear of being charged or sued.
Though Bryant did not kill anyone, Missouri law allows him to be charged because, according to police, his accomplice died in the commission of a burglary.
Authorities said Murphy lived in the 4600 block of Louisiana Avenue. Court documents listed Bryant’s address in the 3500 block of Miami Street.
