U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig has sentenced Dexter McKinnies to 25 years in prison for shooting at St. Louis County Police Department officers in 2020. The incident occurred on September 1, 2020, when McKinnies fired at police officers who were part of the FBI Violent Crime Safe Streets Task Force as they attempted to arrest him.
The authorities had been seeking Dexter McKinnies during an investigation into multiple violent crimes and discovered that his brother, Lawton McKinnies, had an active felony warrant for three counts of first-degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action.
Police set up a meeting under false pretenses, leading the McKinnies brothers to believe they would be conducting maintenance work on a property. Upon arrival, Lawton was arrested and found with a 9mm pistol. Meanwhile, Dexter fired multiple shots from across the street using a similar weapon, hitting an FBI vehicle before being shot by officers in return fire.
Both brothers are convicted felons and are prohibited from possessing firearms. Dexter McKinnies pleaded guilty in November to five felonies: one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts each of assaulting a federal officer and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Lawton McKinnies also pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and received a three-year sentence. He was later sentenced to an additional year for violating his supervised release.
The case was investigated by the St. Louis County Police Department along with the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Donald Boyce and Nichole Frankenberg.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which aims to reduce violent crime through collaboration between law enforcement agencies and community organizations. On May 26, 2021, the Department introduced strategies enhancing PSN's efforts based on fostering trust within communities, supporting violence prevention initiatives, focusing enforcement priorities strategically, and evaluating outcomes effectively.