© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Florissant officer in critical but stable condition following shooting

 

UPDATE:  Doctors are now saying that Officer Michael Vernon will be paralyzed.

 

A Florissant Police Officer remains in critical but stable condition, following a shooting early Monday morning.

Officer Michael Vernon was responding a break-in alarm around 3 a.m. when he was attacked.

Police Captain Sean Fagan says 20-year-old Brian Lamont Cannon Jr. was hiding in a dumpster when he jumped up and shot Vernon three times.

“One of them (bullets) went into his shoulder; one of them entered his chest cavity through the side and one of them entered his leg," says Fagan.  "These wounds caused a spinal cord injury.  He also has a pretty severe injury to his lungs from the bullet passing through his lungs.”

Fagan says Vernon is having some trouble feeling his feet but doctors are optimistic the paralysis is only temporary.

Vernon was patrolling an area behind a shopping center, when he noticed a pair of shorts in the street and emerged from his vehicle to investigate.  Captain Bill Lowrey says Vernon never even drew his side arm.

“As he exited the car and walked to the front of his vehicle this cowardly attack occurred on him where the suspect jumped out a dumpster and fired five shots, unprovoked at Officer Vernon, striking him three times.”

Vernon is 33 and a seven-year veteran of the Florissant police force. Police say he was able to give a description of the suspect, who was found him in a subdivision garage about an hour after the shooting.

Prosecutors are charging Cannon with assault on a law enforcement officer, armed criminal action and burglary.

Tags