In the early morning hours of November 1, 2019, following a Halloween party in St. Louis, Missouri, 38-year-old Mark Schlemmer was shot and killed. The incident occurred at approximately 2:15 a.m. in the 700 block of North 15th Street. Schlemmer, a resident of Collinsville, Illinois, and a father of two teenage daughters, was sitting in the passenger seat of a car with two other individuals when the shooting took place.
A vehicle, driven by a man later identified as Leron Harris, pulled
up and blocked the car Schlemmer was in. Harris, who was wearing a mask, targeted the female driver, with whom he had a prior relationship. He pointed a gun at her and fired, but the bullet missed her and struck Schlemmer in the head. The driver sped away, and Harris pursued them, eventually losing control of his vehicle and crashing into several parked cars. Schlemmer was transported to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on November 2, 2019.
The investigation quickly led police to 25-year-old Leron Harris. A witness who owned the car Harris was driving told police he had instructed her to report the vehicle as stolen and to get rid of her phone. The driver of the car Schlemmer was in identified the mask Harris wore from a photo on his Instagram account. Harris was apprehended in Marietta, Georgia, on November 15, 2019, after a high-speed chase. The mask described by the witness was found inside his vehicle.
Harris was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. His first trial in April 2022 resulted in a mistrial due to a hung jury. However, a second trial in January 2023 found him guilty. Leron Harris was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Mark Schlemmer, with an additional 15 years for armed criminal action.
