Downtown residents voice concerns over rise in violence at homeless camps

By JENNA RAE, NEWS 4 REPORTER

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    ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOV) — News 4 has been looking into a rising concern among residents specifically in downtown St. Louis regarding increased violence centered in homeless camps around the city.

One in particular, InterCo Plaza on Tucker Boulevard, has residents coming to News 4 with concerns for safety. Not only for them, but for other residents and business owners downtown as well.

“It’s concerning for a lot of residents and businesses in the downtown area,” Dan Pistor explained.

Pistor has lived downtown for the last 14 years. He’s also a member of the downtown neighborhood association and safety board. He says the city needs to step up and do something about the InterCo encampment.

A News 4 viewer recently sent in a video from August 5. In the video, you can see a man being beaten and dragged inside the encampment for over a minute. We’re told that violence inside the camp has skyrocketed in the last week, with multiple assaults, beatings and even a shooting. St. Louis Metropolitan Police tell us they’re working to patrol that area, but witnesses refusing to come forward is halting their investigation and resources to help that area.

“In the past, we’ve had small encampments that have three, five, up to 10 [people], but we’ve never had something this large and this problematic,” Anthony D’Agostino said.

D’Agostino is the CEO of the St. Patrick’s Center, which has dedicated more than 40 years to serving and finding solutions for the unhoused. Their building is next to the InterCo camp. D’Agostino tells News 4 the last couple of months have been increasingly challenging.

“It’s not necessarily the residents living at InterCo, it’s the people coming and causing problems during the day and at night who don’t necessarily live there. So, we have agitators who come in, and agitators who come in and create violent situations who are living there,” D’Agostino explained.

D’Agostino and residents tell News 4 a permanent situation is needed. Right now, the St. Patrick’s Center is housing some of the unhoused at a facility named ‘Camp Cole.’ It’s an unoccupied building on Cole Street, just two blocks from InterCo. The center says Cole Camp is already full and can only house up to 40 people. They’re working with the city to figure out something long term.

St. Louis’ Mayor Tishaura Jones promised to address the unhoused population and find a solution during her campaign for mayor this past year. She promised again to address the situation when she announced the distribution of COVID-19 relief funds in June.

“Funds for our unhoused neighbors will help keep them safe and get them back on their feet,” Jones said on June 15. “Most importantly, this is a public safety plan.”

When News 4 asked about the recent uptick in violence at the InterCo encampment Tuesday, the mayor’s office referred us back to police.

In a later statement, her office said: “The City under the Mayor’s direction has already taken steps to support St. Patrick’s Center’s efforts to relocate the unhoused to Camp Cole. We continue to encourage residents of InterCo to move there, and service providers are on-site to provide wraparound services and help people there find more permanent housing.”

Residents tell News 4 they don’t want to wait any longer. They say they want action from the city now.

“The aggressive behavior, the lewd activity, some of the violence and aggressiveness toward people going to small businesses, residents going to and from work,” Pistor explained.

Pistor says it’s been an ongoing problem the last several weeks and he’s hoping to see some solution once the Mayor and Board of Alderman pass the COVID-19 relief funding bill. That bill is being discussed in a special aldermanic session Wednesday morning.

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