Crime
Former Mercy Physician Fatally Shot by St. Louis County Police During Warrant Service in Fenton
Fenton, MO – A former physician at Mercy Health was shot and killed by St. Louis County police officers on Friday morning after an attempted arrest escalated into a fatal confrontation.
The deceased, identified as 38-year-old Aleksandr Lanis, was the subject of an arrest warrant for first-degree harassment.
Officers arrived at approximately 10 a.m. at a residence in the 1000 block of Hawkins Bend Drive to serve the warrant when the situation turned violent.
According to police, officers made contact with Lanis at the door of the home, where a verbal exchange ensued.
The encounter quickly escalated into a physical struggle when Lanis allegedly brandished a firearm.
In response, both officers discharged their weapons, striking and fatally wounding him. A firearm was recovered at the scene.
One of the officers sustained a non-gunfire-related hand injury during the altercation but was treated at the scene and did not require hospitalization.
The officers involved in the shooting have been identified as a 30-year-old with seven years of service and a 22-year-old who has been with the department for one year.
Neighbors in the area expressed shock following the incident. “We heard about 15 shots,” one resident recalled. “I didn’t even know he had weapons. He mostly kept to himself.”
Authorities confirmed that Lanis shared the home with a woman who was in the process of divorcing him.
She and their young child were not present at the time of the shooting.
Mercy Health acknowledged that Lanis had previously been employed as a physician but declined to disclose the timeframe of his tenure with the organization.
The investigation into the officer-involved shooting is ongoing.
AUSTIN, Texas — A man was taken into custody Saturday afternoon following a shooting inside the Austin Central Library that left one person seriously injured and prompted a large emergency response and temporary shelter-in-place order in the downtown area.
According to the Austin Police Department (APD), officers responded shortly after 12:00 p.m. to reports of gunfire inside the Austin Central Library, located at 710 W. César Chávez Street.
Upon arrival, police and Austin-Travis County EMS units found one victim suffering from a gunshot wound.
The individual was transported to a local hospital in serious but stable condition.
Assistant Police Chief Lee Rogers stated during a press briefing that the shooter fled the scene before officers arrived.
After an extensive search, the suspect—identified as 55-year-old Harold Newton Keene—was located and arrested in South Austin at approximately 1:25 p.m.
The library was safely evacuated, and the shelter-in-place alert was lifted shortly after Keene’s apprehension.
Authorities emphasized that the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident involving only one suspect and one victim.
“This was not an active shooter situation,” Rogers confirmed.
Preliminary reports and public records reveal that Harold Newton Keene has a lengthy criminal history, including multiple arrests for assault, family violence, terroristic threats, burglary, drug possession, and evading arrest.
He is described by law enforcement officials as a habitual violent offender who has had numerous prior run-ins with police.
Records indicate Keene was previously arrested for threatening a man with a firearm several months ago and, in a separate incident, assaulted another inmate while in custody at the Travis County Jail.
In both cases, prosecutors later declined to pursue charges.
Authorities have not yet released a possible motive for the shooting or confirmed whether the suspect and victim knew each other.
The Austin Police Department’s Major Crimes Division is leading the investigation.
Anyone with information related to the incident is urged to contact the Austin Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 512-472-TIPS.