More details are emerging about the commercial building in downtown St. Louis that was the site of this weekend's mass shooting in which 11 young people were injured and one killed.
Interviews with a former building manager, tenant and other downtown stakeholders paint a picture of a building that had a lax attitude toward security and an unlicensed bar operating sporadically on the first floor.
TCM Realty has owned 1409 Washington Avenue since 2008. A sign in its lobby advertises office space in it for as low as $295 a month.
At a press conference yesterday, Police Chief Robert Tracy said it was “a surprise” that there would be a party at the location, describing it as “office space with cubicles … not set up for socializing.”
However, those more familiar with the building's recent history say that it has had issues for years.
A woman whose business rented space in the building prior to the pandemic says that security was an ongoing concern, one that she felt like building management didn't take seriously enough. That’s ultimately why she left.
"If there could be a commercial version of a slumlord, TCM is that," she said. "There was a man who didn’t have a space in the building who frequently used the women’s restroom on our floor and trashed it, and I brought that to the property manager’s attention, and it went unaddressed."
The former tenant shared with the RFT an email from building management urging people renting space in the building not to leave the front door unlocked.
"If anyone is doing this they should take a mental note that if it happens again, we will be reviewing the camera and determining next steps to prevent this from happening again," the 2019 email says.
The former tenant tells the RFT that despite the mention of security cameras, "they didn't have any."
A current tenant who runs a business out of the building, who didn't want her name or company associated with coverage of the shooting, tells the RFT the landlords’ management of the building is “just OK.”"
"They never answer the phone or call you back. But they want their rent on time," she says. "And I just don't like how the front door is always open."
She says they get a key card to access the building, but she barely ever has to use it because the door is always open.
At Sunday's press conference, Tracy said that police were trying to determine who controlled access to the building.
The former tenant who spoke to the RFT says that building management was loose about who came in and out. She notes that, at least when she was renting space, the elevator wasn't controlled-access, meaning that once someone was inside the building they could get to any floor.
Even after the shooting, on Monday afternoon an RFT reporter walked right into the building and took the elevator up to the fifth floor, which had been cleaned up considerably in the past day though some units were in disarray—including one space that had nothing but hookah gear and empty boxes strewn haphazardly about.
Former building manager Brad Waldrop tells the RFT that when he heard news of the mass shooting he "was not surprised at all."
"I think it was inevitable," Waldrop says. "It's a surprise it didn't happen sooner."
Waldrop says that until about 2012 he worked for TCM Realty, which is owned by Terrence McDonald, a businessman whom Waldrop describes as "a good guy that put money into his property," but eventually "gave up on downtown."
"At some point he got so sick of city government not helping us down here that he just told me, 'I don't care who you bring me, I'll lease it to anybody,'" Waldrop says.
Waldrop says that at that point, he quit.
Reached by phone, McDonald says that he doesn't want to comment at this time, as he doesn't have all the facts about the shooting. However, when told what Waldrop had said, McDonald emphasized, "That is inaccurate. There's nothing true about that statement. I'm perfectly happy with the city and the way they operate."
Les Sterman of Citizens for a Greater Downtown St. Louis says that his organization has previously called the police about what he called an "illegal club" operating on the building's first floor without a liquor license.
The RFT reviewed multiple Instagram posts advertising karaoke events and 420-friendly hookah happy hour events happening at 1409 Washington.
This morning, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department revised the number of young people injured in Sunday's shooting from 10 to 11.
In addition to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Makao Moore, ten other teens sustained injuries from gunfire. One 17-year-old female sustained serious injuries to spinal cord after being trampled by others fleeing the shooting.
Among the 10 injured are two 15-year-olds, two 16-year-olds, three 17-year-olds, an 18-year-old and two 19-year-olds.
We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at ryan.krull@riverfronttimes.comor follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull.
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