from:http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/F3FCA9027F2ACB378625764700062E3A?OpenDocument

Terror struck four generations in deadly home invasion

Mario Coleman.By Carolyn Tuft
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/06/2009

Updated: 1:38 p.m.


Mario Coleman.

ST. LOUIS –– A murder victim in a home invasion had just gotten out of the hospital when she was dragged by her hair, at gunpoint, through the house to wake up family members and show the robbers where the family's treasures were hidden, her uncle told the Post-Dispatch today.

One of the friends in the home was an off-duty policewoman, who didn't have her gun. But when the two gunmen tried to herd the entire family into the basement of the home on Hickory Street, the policewoman fought back. In that struggle, the gunmen started firing. That's when Gina Stallis, 34, was shot and killed. The cop and firefighter were seriously hurt by gunfire, and a teenage robber was shot in the hand.


Murder victim Gina Stallis (Courtesy of KMOV-TV)


While the struggle continued, Stallis' mother, Rose Whitrock, ran out of the house and tried to get a neighbor to help but no one would, said Mark Whitrock, 50, of Wentzville, Stallis' uncle. A neighbor woman came to her door, but refused to let Stallis' mother use a phone to call police, Whitrock said.

"I think the police officer is a hero," Whitrock said. "Had she had her gun with her, those suspects would have never gotten into that house."

The police officer, 27, who is not being identified by police, is in critical condition at a local hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. Her boyfriend, a 29-year-old firefighter, is in stable condition at a hospital from a gunshot wound to the neck.

Because the family members were able to give police such a vivid description of the men, police quickly arrested the two suspects. The 16-year-old boy was arrested after being treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound to his hand. His alleged accomplice was arrested in a car minutes later. Inside the car police found loot from the home where Stallis was killed, in the 900 block of Hickory Street.


Mario Coleman.
The older suspect –– Mario Coleman, 22, of the 5300 block of Cabanne Avenue –– was charged Monday night with 12 felonies, including the murder of Stallis. He's being held in jail on a $1 million, cash-only bail. The 16-year-old boy is in juvenile custody. Police won't release his name unless he is charged as an adult.

Court records indicate that Coleman pleaded guilty to felony burglary and felony theft in 2007, but got a suspended imposition of sentence and placed on probation for three years. In 2008, court records indicate, Coleman pleaded guilty to a felony unlawful use of a weapon charge and, again, got a suspended execution of sentence and was placed on supervised probation. He got out of a "shock incarceration" ordered by a judge on April 11.

The crime spree began about 1 a.m. Monday when the police officer and her boyfriend, Stallis' cousin, were leaving the home on Hickory. They had come to visit Stallis, a registered nurse who had just been released from the hospital for the flu, the uncle said.

"Gina was staying with her mother and grandmother who told her to stay with them so they could help watch her two boys while she recouperated," Whitrock said today. "We are a real tight family. When one person is sick, the others all come together to help."

When Stallis opened the door, two gunmen were standing there pointing a gun at the three, Whitrock said.

"I think these guys saw the police officer and her boyfriend come to the home and waited for them to leave," Whitrock said.

Whitrock was not in the home, but he provided this account to the Post-Dispatch based on what relatives who were there told him.

The gunmen forced the three back into the house and two female suspects followed the gunmen in, Whitrock said. The older gunman grabbed Stallis by the hair, put a gun to her head and started dragging her through the house, he said. The gunman was trying to find everyone in the house, Whitrock said.

His accomplice, meanwhile, held a gun on the police officer and the firefighter.

Stallis and the gunman entered the bedroom of Stallis' mother, Rose Whitrock, who was sleeping in bed with Stallis' younger son, Benjamin, 7, Whitrock said. Rose was sound asleep. Stallis tried to wake her.

"Rose said, 'What do you want?' Gina said, 'Mom, you don't understand. You have to get up!' " Whitrock said. "Then Rose saw the shiny gun."

Benjamin sat up in bed. "Rose said, 'Honey, you have to lay back down.' She wanted to protect her grandson," Whitrock said.

The gunman then dragged Stallis by her hair into Stallis' grandmother's room. The grandmother was sleeping next to Stallis' 9-year-old son, Samuel, Whitrock said. Stallis woke up the grandmother and the gunman directed them all into a room. One gunmen held those six –– the police officer, her boyfriend, Stallis' mother, Stallis grandmother and Stallis' two sons –– at gunpoint.

The other gunman then dragged Stallis into every room to gather up jewelry and other valuable items, Whitrock said. He demanded money. Stallis had only $9 in her purse. Then, the gunmen decided to steal a big-screen television, Whitrock said, and they forced Stallis to carry it downstairs by herself, he said.

"It took two men to carry it up there but these two gunmen made Gina carry the television by her self down those steps," Whitrock said. "She was so weak from just getting out of the hospital, but she did everything they asked her to do."

After gathering the loot, Whitrock said that the two gunmen then ordered the family into the basement.

"The police officer feared that if they put everyone in the basement, they would kill them, that's what I think," Whitrock said. "The officer said, 'Oh, no. You're not getting us in the basement.' That's when the older suspect shoved the officer against the wall because it made him mad."

Whitrock said the officer came out fighting and "she was flat kicking his butt. Then everybody started fighting and the shooting started."

Rose Whitrock was able to sneak out a kitchen door outside to run for help from her neighbors.

"No one would come out to help her," Whitrock said. "Finally, I think one lady came to the door but wouldn't let her use the phone. At that point, Rose heard sirens. Police were on their way. When Rose got back in the house, she found her daughter bleeding to death."

The suspects had taken off with the loot.

Whitrock said that the family had lived for "years and years" in the three-story house because they were very involved in the St. Raymond's Maronite Cathedral across the street.

"Rose's mother is the treasurer at St. Raymond's," Whitrock said. "Their church is their life."

Whitrock says he thinks he knows why the family was targeted. "They have a very nice home and I think they are one of the only white families on that block," he said.

Whitrock said there had been other problems with criminals at the Hickory Street family home. He said his brother, Stallis' father, had parked a brand-new car out front a few years ago and someone lit a rag that had been put into the gas tank to try to blow it up. Stallis' father died about two years ago.

Whitrock said his family is shaken by Monday's deadly attack.

"It's pretty bad when you aren't safe in your own home," Whitrock said. "Then you have these two animals –– with no regard for human life and no ambition to go out and earn an honest living like Rose's kids did –– come in and take it all from you."

Stallis' was a registered nurse in the oncology department at the John Cochran VA Medical Center. Her uncle said that she battled stomach cancer as a child and won.

"It was then that she decided that she wanted to grow up to help people," Whitrock said. "She would help anybody, no matter who you were. Those two animals who did this to her didn't have to kill anyone. Gina did everything they told her to do."

Stallis funeral is being handled by Kutis Funeral home. Stallis has two brothers –– Joseph, a St. Louis firefighter, and Christopher, a construction worker.

Police declined to comment on what role the two female suspects who entered the house with the gunmen played in the crime.

[email protected] 314-340-8359



Earlier story:

ST. LOUIS — Prosecutors charged a St. Louis man with 12 felonies Monday night in an early morning home invasion that left a nurse dead and an off-duty police officer and her firefighter boyfriend seriously injured.

Mario Coleman, 22, was held late Monday in lieu of $1 million, cash-only bail. Coleman, of the 5300 block of Cabanne Avenue, faces one charge of first-degree murder, one charge of first-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree robbery and six counts of armed criminal action in the home invasion early Monday. A 16-year-old suspect also was being held pending charges.

Police said the nurse was Gina Stallis, 34, the mother of two, who worked in the oncology department at the John Cochran VA Medical Center on North Grand Boulevard.
Gina Stallis (KMOV photo)

Officials did not identify the wounded officer or firefighter. They were off-duty when attacked at a house in the 900 block of Hickory Street about 1:10 a.m.

Police said the firefighter, 29, was escorting the officer, 27, to her car when two gunmen forced them back into the house. Six other people were inside.

The intruders announced a robbery and a struggle followed.

The officer was shot at least three times — twice in the chest and once in the leg — and emerged from surgery in critical condition, officials said. Late Monday she was alert and speaking, police said. She has been on the force since late 2007.

The firefighter, reported to be working on his emergency medical technician license, was shot once in the neck and hospitalized in serious condition.

Stallis, who lived in the 6300 block of Juniata Street and was visiting the house on Hickory, was shot once in the chest and died at a hospital, police said.

Police Lt. Col. Reggie Harris said there was no indication that the officer or anyone else at the home was targeted. "It was a crime of opportunity," he said.

The officer's mother, grandmother and other relatives lived there, a family friend said.

Police said that "at this point, it does not appear anyone inside the residence returned fire." That left open a question of how the 16-year-old suspect came to be shot in the hand. He was taken into juvenile custody after seeking treatment for the wound at a hospital early Monday.

Police did not say whether he might have been shot by Coleman, who was arrested in a vehicle near the Kingshighway entrance to Forest Park shortly after the injured teen arrived at the hospital.

Police said they recovered two weapons and property stolen from the home on Hickory.

A spokeswoman praised the department's patrol officers, crediting them for quick arrests with the help of detailed information from witnesses.

John Waldmann, who worked at the medical center with Stallis, said she had two children, 7 and 9. "Her children were her life, and she did anything she could for them," said Waldmann, of St. Louis. "She was a good person. Those of us here at the hospital will deeply miss her personality."

The crime scene is in the city's LaSalle Park neighborhood, just south of downtown.

Kim Bell and Greg Jonsson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

damn. These animals need to be eviscerated

The one woman runs next door to get help and the fucking neighbor refuses to call the police or let her in?

Fuck that neighbor. As bad as the home invaders.

this is why even is a nice neighborhood, it never hurts to have a firearm in an accessible location.

i pray for the familly, and hope those scum get what's coming  them

"If you are legally authorized to carry a weapon and step out into the world without it, you just became a sheep".

The Judge who let him out on probation deserves the same fate as the killer.

This

I believe this is the type of situation, that if I were invoved in personally, would convice me to give up the 9-5 lifestyle and declare a Charles Bronson type war on the environment that produced the aggressors.

Prayers sent to the those that were hurt and those that care about them.

If you live in a nice community you really need a firearm.

People who are comfortable tend to be careless and vulnerable to people who think of evil shit 24/7

Posted from:


CA, USA


If you are legally authorized to carry a weapon and live in a state that won't let you legally carry it, you just became a sheep.

The neighbor had probably read the thread here about not getting involved.




 

Did you read the article?  If someone comes banging on your door at 1AM saying that they need to use your phone to call the police are you going to comply?  Chances are the neighbor didn't even now the person who came to her door since it was the murder victims mother.  Do you know all of your neighbors' family well enough to let them in your house at 1 AM?  Don't lay blame on the neighbor for making a decision that I believe most would have in that situation.  This is completely on the two perps.  Even if she had been allowed in and called the police, how do you think this would have turned out differently?

What's that one picture say? Obvious troll is obvious...

Hey, two dumbass posts. One person is calling everyone who doesn't carry morons, and the other does not know you can carry in CA.

If you let the state tell you whether you can or cannot carry a weapon, then you are a sheep.  Baaahhhhhhh!!!!

While the struggle continued, Stallis' mother, Rose Whitrock, ran out of the house and tried to get a neighbor to help but no one would, said Mark Whitrock, 50, of Wentzville, Stallis' uncle. A neighbor woman came to her door, but refused to let Stallis' mother use a phone to call police,


"No one would come out to help her," Whitrock said. "Finally, I think one lady came to the door but wouldn't let her use the phone. At that point, Rose heard sirens. Police were on their way. When Rose got back in the house, she found her daughter bleeding to death."

Whitrock says he thinks he knows why the family was targeted. "They have a very nice home and I think they are one of the only white families on that block," he said.

[span style='color: purple;']Whitrock said there had been other problems with criminals at the Hickory Street family home. He said his brother, Stallis' father, had parked a brand-new car out front a few years ago and someone lit a rag that had been put into the gas tank to try to blow it up. Stallis' father died about two years ago.

These lines in the story say a lot.

Take that out and just shoot the fucker in the head.....

What fucking animals!

Another example of why armed citizens need to shoot to slide lock when these situations occur.   Too many fire one or two rounds and the thug makes it to the ER.  If these thugs had been planted  six feet at any of their other crimes, then this family would have been safe.