A beloved former Staff USA skater was allegedly gunned down in a Missouri Starbucks drive-thru throughout an armed theft by a maniac with a protracted rap sheet who was needed for 2 comparable shootings days earlier.
Gabrielle “Sam” Linehan, 28, was inside her automobile on the espresso hotspot in St. Louis’ Tower Grove East neighborhood when Keith Lamon Brown allegedly held her at gunpoint earlier than opening hearth simply after 10 a.m. on Tuesday, in response to a possible trigger assertion considered by The Publish.
Brown, 58, was caught on surveillance video carrying a high-visibility vest and helmet when he walked as much as Linehan’s automobile, ordering her to boost her fingers earlier than taking pictures the defenseless girl, police stated.
Linehan, a skating coach in close by Webster Groves, was rushed to a hospital the place she was pronounced lifeless.
The St. Louis Synergy, the Metro Edge Skating Membership’s synchronized determine skating group, paid tribute to their fallen mentor.
“Coach Sam Linehan was a cherished skater, coach, mentor, and good friend whose impression reached far past the ice. A devoted chief, Coach Sam devoted time and coronary heart to supporting and creating skaters whereas instilling the values of self-discipline, teamwork, integrity, and resilience,” the group wrote on Instagram.
“This loss is each sudden and profoundly heartbreaking for athletes, workers, and your entire skating neighborhood. Focus stays on supporting Sam’s household and making certain skaters have the care and assets wanted throughout this extremely tough time,” the assertion added.
Linehan represented St. Louis Synergy and Staff USA, incomes silver on the 2014 US Synchronized Skating Championships, in response to KSDK.
“She was by far some of the naturally proficient youngsters I had coached,” longtime coach Ramona Peterson instructed the outlet. “However past that, she was extremely devoted.”
Brown allegedly robbed a number of financial institution playing cards and a driver’s license from Linehan earlier than fleeing the scene on foot.
He was arrested early Wednesday morning and charged with first-degree homicide, three counts of first-degree theft, 4 counts of Armed Legal Motion and one depend of Illegal Possession of a Firearm, police introduced.
Brown was needed for 2 armed robberies that befell days earlier than Linehan’s homicide — and has a felony historical past that dates again to the mid Nineteen Eighties, Fox 2 Now reported.
On Feb. 6, Brown, carrying the high-visibility vest and helmet, allegedly approached a automobile at a Jack within the Field drive-thru the place he pointed a gun on the driver earlier than stealing the driving force’s purse, a 9mm handgun and the cellphone of the driving force’s daughter, in response to court docket information.
Two days later, Brown is allegedly struck once more at a Greenback Basic, demanding cash from a cashier.
The gunman fired at the very least three pictures throughout all three robberies, police stated.
Throughout his arrest, officers seized the stolen contents from the primary and third robberies in addition to the neon vest and helmet and suspected narcotics.
He’s being held with out bond on the St. Louis Metropolis Justice Heart.
