ST. LOUIS _ An off-duty St. Louis police officer was shot and killed early Thursday in a shooting involving another officer in the Carondelet neighborhood.
The officer, a 24-year-old woman, was at the home of another officer just after 1 a.m. when the shooting happened.
At a 2:30 a.m. news conference, Police Chief John Hayden said two male officers who were on duty went to one of their homes during their shift. The female officer stopped by and was shot in the chest.
The male officers took the injured officer to St. Louis University Hospital, where she died. She was off-duty at the time of the shooting.
There was no word on how the shooting unfolded, or why the officers were all at an officer's home, but Hayden called the shooting accidental, according to KTVI (Channel 2). Authorities have not provided any update since a 2:50 a.m. Twitter post saying the officer had died.
The shooting happened in the 700 block of Dover Place. An "officer in need of aid" call went out at 12:55 a.m., according to logs of St. Louis calls. Such a call over police radios brings assistance from any nearby officers. That was followed by a call reporting it as a shooting about 10 minutes later, then a request for an evidence unit.
KTVI reported that the officer who died had been with the department for a little more than two years. The male officers, both 29, had been with the department for nearly two years. Their names have not been released.
Mayor Lyda Krewson expressed her sympathy to the officer's family and friends on Twitter.
The St. Louis Police Officers Association said it, along with the public, wanted to know more about what happened.
"But for now, we wait; we wonder; and we weep," said Jeff Roorda, the union's business manager. The union asked for privacy for the officer's family and said the focus should be on her contributions.
"She served her community and her nation with dignity and courage both as a police officer and as a member of the military," Roorda said. "That is how she lived, as a hero."
Overall crime in the Carondelet neighborhood has been up in recent months.
