On the afternoon of July 29, 2023, Anoop Kumar Putta, 49, was shot and killed while working in the main office of the First Western Inn at 4828 North Broadway in the Near North Riverfront neighborhood of Saint Louis. Witnesses and surveillance footage show a man entered the lobby seeking service at about 4:30 p.m.; Putta refused service and, moments later, three gunshots were fired. Emergency responders arrived before 4:45 p.m., but Putta had sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the motel.

Surveillance video recorded a subject leaving a black Ford Fusion and entering the motel around the time of the shooting. Police located and interviewed the Fusion’s driver, who said he had dropped the suspect off to rent a room. Investigators used cell phone GPS data to place the suspect at the scene and identified 35-year-old Marquis Black as the primary suspect. Charges including first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and unlawful possession of a firearm were filed in November 2023. Black was arrested in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in April 2024 and transported to the St. Louis City Justice Center, held without bond pending trial.

If anyone was in or near the First Western Inn on July 29, 2023, or has information about that afternoon, please share what was seen or heard.