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Watch: Retired St Louis police captain shot dead on Facebook Live protecting pawn shop

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David Dorn St Louis
David Dorn St Louis: Retired police captain shot dead on Facebook Live
David Dorn St Louis
David Dorn St Louis: Retired police captain shot dead on Facebook Live

David Dorn killed: Retired St Louis police captain shot dead on Facebook Live protecting friend’s pawn shop during looting. 

‘My death recorded.’ A retired St Louis police captain has been shot dead Tuesday by looters who had broken into his friend’s Missouri pawn shop. 

David Dorn, 77, was found dead on the sidewalk in front of Lee’s Pawn & Jewelry in the early hours following unrest that followed a peaceful protest over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week. 

The shooting and theft at the pawn shop apparently was posted on Facebook Live, but the video has since been taken down. Nevertheless, graphic video (see below) continued to circulate showing him bleeding to death.

Police have not released details of what led to the shooting about 2.30am Tuesday and no arrests have been made. 

Dorn was a friend of the pawn shop’s owner and frequently checked on the business when alarms went off, his wife, Ann Marie Dorn, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

My death recorded on Facebook Live

The retired captain had served 38 years on the St. Louis police force before retiring in October 2007. He then became chief of Moline Acres, a small town north of St. Louis KMOV reports.

The Ethical Society of Police, which represents black officers in St. Louis, said in a news release that Dorn was ‘the type of brother that would’ve given his life to save them if he had to’. 

One witness to the Facebook Live video said the incident had ‘sickened’ him.

Marquaello Futrell posted: ‘The man just was shot and killed outside of Lee’s Pawn and Jewelry has me sick to my stomach.’

He suggested eyewitnesses did not help Dorn after he was shot, adding: ‘It’s one thing to be a victim of a robbery/assault but to lie in you own blood pleading for help and no help comes other than people standing around on FB Live recording his death. All over social media. I’m upset and can’t sleep!’

Dorn’s death came on a violent night in St. Louis, which saw four officers shot, officers pelted with rocks, and businesses burned and robbed. 

The unrest follows similar civil strife overtaking much of America in demonstrations against police brutality and racism – which have since devolved into violent episodes, fatal shootings and rampant looting.

David Dorn St Louis
Retired St. Louis police Capt. David Dorn was shot and killed outside a pawnshop in St. Louis, Mo.

A true public servant

Colonel John W. Hayden, Jr., a St. Louis police commissioner, called Dorn a ‘fine captain.’

‘Many of us, the other officers, looked up to him,’ Hayden said. ‘Was very well-liked, very pleasant. And his wife still works here. So a very sad time for our agency. We will honor him.’

Tim Fitch, the former St. Louis County police chief called Dorn ‘a true public servant’, adding: ‘Protecting & serving all the way to the end. None of us who knew you are surprised you went out fighting at Lee’s Pawn this morning. God speed my friend.’

State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, D-St. Louis, told the Post-Dispatch that he watched to Facebook Live post before it was removed.

‘Very traumatized right now,’ he said about an hour after the shooting occurred. ‘I´m hurting.’ 

No arrests have been announced.

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