‘Stay at home’: College Hill community responds to massive street takeover

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - A man is facing several charges after a massive street takeover in north St. Louis early Sunday morning, leaving community leaders concerned about safety.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police said they responded to the area of North Grand Boulevard and West Florissant Avenue at about 1 a.m. Sunday after receiving several reports of a street takeover and reports of shots fired.

When First Alert 4 was out at that intersection Sunday afternoon, it was relatively quiet - quite the opposite from the scene just hours earlier.

“I’m completely shocked to hear about it,” Fred Kimbrough exclaimed.

Fred Kimbrough is the executive director of The College Hill Foundation, a non-profit focused on revitalizing and restoring this community.

“We have worked very hard over here, through the College Hill Foundation as well as the residents, for improvements and in particular around safety,” he explained. “We’ve had a great track record with that, we’ve trended down for the last decade in a very positive way.”

To see this kind of crime hit the neighborhood is frustrating.

“This is something kind of new so it’s a little disappointing, but at the same time that’s how community work goes - you solve one problem and unfortunately another one appears,” Kimbrough stated.

Police said about 100 cars were involved in the takeover, with drivers performing stunts, burnouts and donuts on public roads and disrupting traffic across the area.

As police and SWAT responded, they said many cars recklessly fled the scene. SWAT officers then used spike strips on more than 50 vehicles as drivers fled.

During this response, police said a group of men started throwing fireworks at an officer. The group ran as officers approached, but they were able to arrest one person involved - Alexander Strenger, 22, of Omaha, Nebraska.

Kimbrough told First Alert 4 he is already determining next steps to stop this from happening again.

“Now we’re going to have to have some meetings over with the police department and kind of see where we can help - if there’s something that we can add to the table,” Kimbrough explained.

And he has just one message to those who are committing these kids of acts.

“Stay at home - don’t visit,” Kimbrough emphasized. “Keep that where you are.”

Strenger has been charged with unlawful assembly and stunt driving (participating in a street takeover).