A predawn homicide investigation in St. Louis on January 26, 2022, led detectives to a white Toyota 4Runner that became the center of a violent chain of events. When officers tried to stop the SUV, it fled, sparking a high-speed pursuit that crossed into Ferguson and ended in a crash near West Florissant Avenue and Lang Drive. As the vehicle’s occupants exited, gunfire erupted.

Police say 23-year-old Equan Hopson opened fire on pursuing officers; two St. Louis Metropolitan Police officers were critically wounded, including Colin Ledbetter, who survived life-threatening injuries after emergency surgery. Officers returned fire, and Hopson was struck. He was taken to a hospital and later died.

Three other men connected to the SUV were arrested: August Burns, 23, charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and resisting arrest and alleged to have been wearing an ammunition carrier with shotgun shells; 35-year-old Clyde Thomas, charged with resisting arrest; and a fourth man identified in March 2022 as 23-year-old Johnny Lewis, arrested in Las Vegas and extradited on resisting-arrest-by-fleeing charges.

Does anyone have information about the earlier homicide that led detectives to the 4Runner or about the vehicle’s occupants that day?