A male St. Louis police officer was charged Friday with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a female officer during what was described as a deadly game with guns.
Officer Nathaniel R. Hendren, 29, is accused in the shooting of Officer Katlyn Alix, 24, while they were playing with a gun.
Alix, who was off-duty, was shot in the chest around 1 a.m. while in the company of Hendren, another officer, and other individuals at Hendren's home in the 700 block of Dover.
Alix and Hendren were playing with guns when the male officer produced a revolver.
“The defendant emptied the cylinder of the revolver and then put one cartridge back into the cylinder,” the statement said. He allegedly spun the cylinder, pointed the gun away and pulled the trigger. The two men then rushed Alix to St Louis University Hospital.
Police have not released the name of the second male officer or specified how many shots were fire. They also haven’t clarified whether the gun involved was a service weapon. However, one police source claims she was killed with a revolver, not a department weapon. The same source confirms Alix was close with the two male officers and often worked together.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced yesterday that her office, with help from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, was conducting a parallel investigation to the police department's probe.
"Today, as much as it saddens my staff and me to file these charges, Katlyn and her family deserve accountability," Gardner said today in a written statement.
