St. Louis, Missouri

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of March 31, 2005
(Scroll down)

Police say killing was self-defense

A robbery attempt in a house in the 5300 block of Maple Avenue early Wednesday turned into a wild fight that ended up with all three participants shot, one of them fatally, St. Louis homicide detectives said.

Darryl Blockton, 21, was slashed with a butcher knife and fatally shot after he had shot and wounded Jerelle Gatlin, 31, and Gatlin's girlfriend, Twanna McNeil, 27, with a shotgun blast, police said. McNeil's 8-year-old son may have witnessed much of the fight, police said. He was unhurt.

Gatlin was in serious but stable condition at a hospital with gunshot pellet wounds of the abdomen and left shoulder. McNeil was treated at a hospital for pellet wounds of the right thigh and released, police said.

Detectives said Gatlin fired several shots at Blockton during a struggle over a shotgun and pistol, and McNeil also fired a couple of shots at Blockton and slashed him with a butcher knife.

No criminal charges will be brought against the couple because Blockton was the aggressor and the couple acted in self-defense, authorities said.

Police said Blockton went to the couple's home shortly before 2 a.m. to collect a debt from Gatlin and to sell him a shotgun, but the visit soon turned into a robbery and then a fight.