A woman was shot dead in St. Louis County, Missouri, inside a Catholic Supply store earlier this week after she refused a man’s advances, officials said.
He tried to coerce a third woman, 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt, but she refused. He then shot her, according to police, and she died in a nearby hospital.
Bruce was arrested on Nov. 21 following a two-day manhunt. He was charged with 17 counts, including first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping, KMOV-TV reported. Officials also charged him with first-degree burglary, tampering with evidence, and armed criminal action.
Opportunity
“It seems to me that a guy like this saw an opportunity,” St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch told the Dispatch. “There were three women in the store alone.”Bruce had no connections with the three women who were in the store, said McCulloch, who added that another customer was in the store when he first came inside. That person left before Bruce attacked the women.
“He left ostensibly to go get a credit card to come in and buy some stuff but, who knows why exactly, perhaps to go get his gun, but in any event came back in and fortunately another customer had just left the building or there would have been four people involved,” McCulloch said, reported the Dispatch.
Catholic Supply’s president, Dan Stutte, issued a statement about the incident.
Bruce, according to a LinkedIn page, worked at a Jewish Community Center of Greater St. Louis. He was also a department manager at a Schnucks store. He was a Navy veteran—serving from 1983 until 1994, KMOV reported. The report says he volunteered as a pastor at a county jail.