ST. LOUIS -- A former pro indoor soccer player despondent over personal problems shot and wounded his brother-in-law Thursday, just 90 minutes before he was killed by police, authorities said.
The dead man was identified as Robert Robson, 31, who had played goalie for the Major Indoor Soccer League St. Louis Steamers in 1979-80, said St. Louis County Police Sgt Ted Zinselmeyer.
The wounded man was James Stiffler, who was in guarded condition at an undisclosed hospital after undergoing surgery for two shotgun wounds to the back.
Police said that Robson entered the Jiffy Mart in North St. Louis County just off Interstate 70 about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, brandishing a .12-gauge shotgun. He fired twice at close range at Stiffler, police said.
Witnesses said Robson told a customer waiting in the long line in the store to step aside before he fired the shotgun.
Robson about an hour later arrived at a pipefitters' union recreation complex in the Spanish Lake Community and told a security guard to call police. He climbed a hill and fired his weapon several times before police surrounded him.
'We tried to contain him, but be kept walking back towards the officers raising the shotgun,' said Police Capt. John Rosenthal. 'Two officers from the St. Louis County police department returned fire at him and killed the suspect.'
Zinselmeyer said Robson had threatened Stiffler in the past.
'He had been despondent for some time, according to the family. He's been separated from his wife and had some family problems,' Zinselmeyer said.
About 5 p.m., tactical squad officers cornered the suspect at the Pipefitters Local Recreation and Retirement Center in far North St. Louis County in the Spanish Lake community.
Police at first had thought the convenience store shooting was a random incident, but a pipefitters' jacket was later found in the car of the man shot at the store. Robson and Stiffler were pipefitters.
