Robert Lamont Owens

In the summer of 2012, a wave of violence was sweeping through St. Louis, and on August 10th, it claimed another life. Robert Lamont Owens, a 25-year-old African-American male, was shot and killed in the West End neighborhood of the city. His death marked the 78th homicide in St. Louis that year, a grim statistic reflecting the escalating gun violence that particularly plagued the city's underserved communities and its young men.

Responding to reports of gunfire, officers from the St. Lou ...