In the early hours of February 11, 2022, Lekeshia Stokes, a 39-year-old woman from Florissant, Missouri, was found shot in her vehicle in the Baden neighborhood of St. Louis. The mother of four had been on her way home from a karaoke event after dropping off a friend. Shortly after midnight, in the 8500 block of Church Drive, Stokes's vehicle sideswiped a parked Jaguar and then crashed into the car parked in front of it.
Following the minor collision, three men exited the Jaguar and
fired multiple shots into Stokes's car. A witness who had been a passenger in the suspects' vehicle told police they heard Stokes yelling, 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't shoot!' The entire incident was captured by a police surveillance camera. Lekeshia Stokes was struck by multiple gunshots and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The investigation led to the arrests of three suspects. Douglas Shelton-Herron, 27, was identified as the man who fired a short-barrel, semiautomatic rifle into Stokes's car 12 times. The other two men were Corey Evans, 21, and Thomas L. Shelton, 25.
Corey Evans and Thomas L. Shelton both accepted plea deals for voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action and were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. Douglas Shelton-Herron was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, receiving 30 years for the murder charge and a consecutive 10-year sentence for armed criminal action. During his sentencing, Shelton-Herron apologized to Stokes's family, which included her mother and sister, who is now raising her four children.
