On September 9, 2020, 42-year-old African American male Terrell D. Scott Sr. was fatally shot in St. Louis, Missouri, marking a profound double tragedy for his family. His death occurred just five days after his 18-year-old son, Terrell Scott Jr., was killed in a separate shooting incident in the same city. The elder Scott’s death took place during a violent week in St.
Louis, contributing to the city’s rising homicide toll for that year.
Police responded to the scene of the shooting in north St. Louis on a Wednesday, where they discovered that Scott Sr. had been struck by gunfire. The incident was a mass casualty event that left Scott dead and three other individuals injured. The violence unfolded in the context of ongoing unrest in the area, and local news reports at the time highlighted the shooting as the 192nd killing of the year in St. Louis. The specific location and circumstances of the shooting were investigated by homicide detectives, who worked to piece together the events that led to the fatal encounter.
The investigation into the surge of violence during that period saw federal involvement. Around the time of Scott Sr.'s death, authorities announced federal charges against two St. Louis men in connection with a 'triple shooting,' though public reports initially linked these developments broadly to the violent episodes occurring that week, including the shooting that claimed the life of Scott’s son days earlier. The son, Terrell Scott Jr., had been found dead in a vehicle alongside a young woman, Gerliah Dennis, on September 4, 2020, in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. The loss of both father and son within less than a week devastated their community and was memorialized by family and friends who lit candles and shared tributes online, expressing disbelief at the timing of the two deaths.
