La’Tatia Stewart, 56, was shot and killed on the evening of Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in a downtown St. Louis parking garage after finishing her shift at the Marriott St. Louis Grand Hotel. She was found behind her vehicle with gunshot wounds to her chest and side and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her death occurred amid a cluster of violence at the same garage: the next day two men were shot and wounded there, and investigators treating the incidents as connected said they did not initially appear to be targeted. Days later police arrested 35-year-old Deshawn King Wilson after a brief foot chase; officers say a gun he threw onto a roof during the pursuit was recovered. Wilson, who was reportedly homeless and had been using the garage for shelter, was charged with first-degree murder in Stewart’s death and with assault and armed criminal action for the shootings that injured two men.

Stewart had been an advocate seeking justice for her son Gregory Stewart, who was killed in 2020; her family wondered whether that work played a role, though police said they do not believe the murder was related to her activism. If anyone has information about what happened that night in the garage, please come forward.