An unidentified man stopped at a gas station in St. Charles, Mo., to use the restroom and ended up putting a halt to what police are calling a “violent crime spree.”
As the St. Charles Police Department (SCPD) was investigating an armed robbery at one station and a burglary at another, they received a call reporting shots fired at a nearby QuikTrip gas station at roughly 3:20 a.m.
The hero walked out of the restroom and witnessed a black SUV pulling up abruptly at the gas station. The perp, a 26-year-old man named Lance M. Bush, entered the gas station with a backpack. Bush grabbed a clerk standing near the coffee machines, put a knife to her throat, and began dragging the screaming woman to the front of the store. He then forced her to empty the register.
Police are now identifying the suspect as 26-year-old Lance Bush of St. Louis. They say Bush was homeless.https://t.co/EpaFDiSmJU
— KMOX St. Louis News (@kmoxnews) July 18, 2022
The customer went to his car and returned with a 9 mm handgun and confronted Bush.
“I have something for you,” Bush snarled as he approached the man. The customer then shot Bush several times, causing him to fall to the floor.
The clerk and the customer then both dialed 911. Bush was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.
Police say the black SUV Bush was driving had been reported stolen days earlier. They found items in the vehicle that led them to believe that Bush was responsible for the previous burglary and armed robbery they were investigating.
The previous robbery also involved Bush holding a knife to a clerk’s throat and demanding cash from the register. He then dragged the clerk to the safe, demanding that she open it. When she claimed she couldn’t, he dragged her back to open another register and then left the scene. The clerk was taken to the hospital with knife wounds on her wrist, hand, and neck.
Police are still investigating, but thus far, there is no indication that the good samaritan will be charged.
