St. Louis man charged with shooting at police officers

ST. LOUIS -- A man shot and wounded during an exchange of gunfire with St. Louis police during an investigation into a stolen vehicle has been charged with seven felonies.

St. Louis city prosecutors on Tuesday charged Alfred Graves with three counts each of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and armed criminal action, as well as unlawful possession of a firearm. Graves, whose background includes convictions for assault and robbery, also is accused of resisting arrest.

Police said an officer investigating a stolen vehicle Monday saw Graves, 41, and another man run from the area and called for backup. Graves pointed a semi-automatic pistol at three officers and threatened to kill them, but the gun misfired, police said. After a short foot chase, Graves got his gun to work and fired at the officers before they returned fire, wounding him, police said.

Graves was treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and released into police custody. No officers were injured.

The other suspect remains at large.

After the gunbattle Monday, about 100 protesters gathered at the scene, questioning the officers' use of force. St. Louis police chief Sam Dotson said his officers had no choice but to act as they did after the suspect fired at them.

Graves is black, the female officer and one male officer are black, and the other male officer is white.

Police in the St. Louis area have been involved in several shootings of black suspects since August, when 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by a white police officer in neighboring Ferguson. A grand jury and the U.S. Department of Justice cleared that officer of wrongdoing.

Dotson said Graves had been sought in connection with four robberies in recent weeks.

Since 1997, Graves has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to charges of felony assault, flourishing a weapon, burglary, robbery and criminal property damage.

Online court records do not show whether Graves has an attorney.