Key takeaways:
- Alyssa Wilson, 17, was fatally shot while driving on Interstate 170 on Oct. 14.
- Investigators are testing ballistic evidence from an Oct. 11 highway shooting in which no injuries were reported.
- Willie Herndon faces Missouri murder and armed criminal action charges and a federal felon-in-possession charge; his wife faces a hindering-prosecution charge.
The man accused of fatally shooting a Missouri teenager as she drove to a Halloween event is being investigated in connection with another highway shooting three days earlier, federal court documents show. Investigators recovered a shell casing near the earlier scene made by the same manufacturer as one found after Alyssa Wilson’s killing, but testing has not established whether the shootings involved the same gun.
Wilson, 17, was driving on Interstate 170 in Overland, just outside St. Louis, on Oct. 14 when a shot fired from the roadside struck her in the back, according to prosecutors. She was headed to a St. Louis Zoo Halloween celebration. The Guardian reported that the shot caused Wilson to crash into a concrete median. She was taken to Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Willie Herndon, of Arlington, Texas, faces Missouri charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in Wilson’s death. He also faces a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. NBC News reported that he is 42; The Guardian reported that he is 43. NBC News reported that authorities said Wilson had no ties to Herndon and his wife, Taiya Herndon.
“Alyssa was 17, excited about her life, excited about her future,” her father, Robert Hickman, said at a news conference. He said the family had planned a Disney vacation to celebrate her 18th birthday. “This was a senseless act.”
In the Oct. 11 incident, a vehicle was struck by gunfire after exiting Interstate 55 in St. Louis. No injuries were reported, according to NBC News. Security video showed a white SUV parked along the interstate before it fled immediately after the shooting, the federal complaint says.
“A single cartridge case was recovered,” the complaint states. Its headstamp identified the same manufacturer as a casing recovered during the investigation into Wilson’s killing. Prosecutors said laboratory tests were underway to determine whether the ballistic evidence connects the incidents. The Guardian described Herndon as charged in the second shooting incident, while NBC News described him as under investigation; the charges detailed in both accounts are the Missouri charges arising from Wilson’s death and the federal firearms charge.
Investigators said video of the Oct. 14 shooting showed a white Buick Enclave stop on the shoulder of Interstate 170. Someone got out, paced and fired at Wilson’s passing vehicle. Using video evidence, including an image of the SUV’s license plate and an Arkansas Razorbacks sticker, authorities traced it to a Days Inn in Caseyville, Illinois, where they arrested Herndon and his wife.
A state complaint says Willie Herndon admitted firing a rifle from the roadside and Taiya Herndon admitted driving the SUV. She faces a Missouri charge of hindering prosecution. Authorities said a search of their hotel room found a semiautomatic rifle and ammunition matching the brand and caliber of a casing recovered after Wilson’s shooting. Investigators also found handwritten notes about vehicles and law enforcement personnel Willie Herndon believed were following him, according to the federal complaint.
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