Police admit handcuffed prisoner shot himself

ST. LOUIS -- Internal investigators for St. Louis police are trying to determine why a prisoner wasn't frisked and how, despite being handcuffed, he managed to shoot himself in the mouth.

It happened at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday in an alley in the Soulard neighborhood while the suspect, Willie Coffman Jr., 18, was in a police van. Coffman used a pistol he had been carrying, police said.

Coffman, of St. Louis, was in critical but stable condition Monday.

Police gave this account:

About 2:15 a.m. Sunday, a security guard spotted a man who fit the description of a robber who had held up two men a few hours earlier.

The security guard stopped the man, later identified as Coffman, and in patting him down found the wallets belonging to the robbery victims. The security guard handcuffed Coffman. While he was awaiting the arrival of police, a man ran up and said he had just been robbed at gunpoint on the street by Coffman. The security guard asked Coffman what he had done with his gun, and Coffman said he had thrown it in the alley near a trash bin.

When police arrived, they placed Coffman in the police van and went to look for the pistol. As they searched, they heard a loud noise and at first thought a vehicle had struck the police van. They discovered Coffman had shot himself with a .380-caliber pistol, despite being handcuffed behind his back.

Charges of three counts of first-degree robbery will be sought against Coffman, police said.