ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – A St. Louis man has been charged in connection with a triple shooting in a St. Peters subdivision which left one man dead, and a woman and child injured.
The St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Christopher Harper with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, one count of armed criminal action, and one count of first-degree burglary. He remains jailed without bond.
The shooting happened just before 1:40 a.m. Monday in the 1600 block of Country Acres Drive, located in the Country Creek Solutions subdivision.
According to a probable cause statement from the St. Peters Police Department, officers arrived at the split-level home to find a man and woman shot inside in a bedroom on the lower floor. A 13-year-old girl was also found shot on the lower level.
The male victim, identified as Darin Gosejohn, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 57.
The juvenile victim and adult female were rushed to a local hospital. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
Investigators reviewed home security footage and saw a large-built man enter the home in the middle of the night, wearing a mask to cover part of his face. He was carrying a small revolver in one hand and a phone in the other, with the flashlight illuminated.
The man can be seen going to the upper level, and then later ordering the juvenile victim to the lower level in order to show him where her parents are sleeping.
Audio and video from the security footage recorded screaming and yelling before the shots were fired.
The juvenile is seen running to the front door to escape, but struggles to unlock the door, and flees upstairs, with the masked shooter in pursuit. The shooter looks and points in the young girl’s direction, but then leaves.
An exterior surveillance camera from a different residence shows the man leave in a dark-colored, hatchback-type sedan. The vehicle had a roof rack, an altered exhaust system, and a third brake light near the roofline.
After conducting interviews with the victims, investigators with the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis tracked down Harper’s blue Ford Focus. The vehicle had a similar-sounding exhaust as heard on the surveillance video, as well as a roof rack and a rear brake light near the roof.
Investigators confronted Harper after he left a part-time job and took him into custody for questioning. He denied any involvement in the shooting, but police claim his visible facial hair and build matches that of the shooter.
Investigators documented evidence suggesting Harper’s girlfriend was in a family financial dispute with the victim. The dispute led to her being evicted from a property after Gosejohan gained legal control of their elderly parent’s finances.
Residents living in the neighborhood are heartbroken for the victims but relieved that an arrest was made quickly and that the crime does not appear to be random.
“It is a shocker,” said Lynne Tomlinson, a realtor, and resident of the Country Creek Subdivision. “Just very shocking that that would happen in this area.”
