On March 8, 2017, 66-year-old male Jerome Fleweller was found deceased in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. The discovery was made after police responded to reports of a vehicle crash. Upon investigating the scene, authorities found Fleweller inside the crashed car, having sustained fatal gunshot wounds that were determined to be the cause of his death rather than the collision itself.
The investigation into the circumstances of his death led detectives to classify the incident as a justified shooting. While details regarding the specific events leading up to the gunfire were not widely publicized in initial crime logs, the classification suggests that the individual who shot Fleweller was determined to have acted in self-defense or within the bounds of the law. Consequently, the death was recorded in homicide statistics but distinguished from criminal murders in annual victim vigils and reports.
Because the shooting was ruled justified, no charges of murder were filed in connection with the case. The inquiry into the incident concluded without the prosecution of a suspect for the death, as the evidence supported the conclusion that the use of lethal force was legally defensible under the circumstances established by investigators.
