On the night of June 3, 2017, violence erupted at a gas station located near the intersection of Union Boulevard and Paulian Place in the Kingsway West neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. 25-year-old Amber Green was sitting inside a parked vehicle at 1620 North Union Boulevard, accompanied by 17-year-old Jalen Woods. Just after 1:00 a.m., two masked individuals approached their car and opened fire in a targeted ambush.
Both Green and Woods sustained fatal gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene. Two other individuals who were nearby at the time of the shooting were also struck by gunfire and transported to a hospital in critical condition.
Investigators eventually linked the double homicide to a series of violent crimes in the area. Police identified Ollie L. Lynch as a primary suspect, alleging that he was one of the masked gunmen responsible for the attack. Lynch was subsequently charged with multiple felonies, including first-degree murder, assault, and armed criminal action. Authorities also arrested Makala R. Mayo, a woman from Spanish Lake, identifying her as an accomplice who played a role in the deadly incident.
The legal proceedings revealed a complex outcome for the accused. In December 2022, Makala Mayo admitted to her involvement in the crime, pleading guilty to a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter specifically regarding the death of Amber Green. As part of a plea agreement that saw prosecutors dismiss fifteen other counts—including first-degree murder—Mayo was sentenced to nine years in prison. Conversely, Ollie Lynch faced a jury trial where he was convicted of first-degree murder for the separate 2017 killing of Jeramee Ramey but was acquitted of the charges related to the deaths of Amber Green and Jalen Woods. Another associate, Marvell T. Williams Jr., also received a prison sentence for his role in the Ramey case, though he was not convicted for the murders at the gas station.
