Is a shooter targeting Black women in St. Louis?

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) — Seven Black women have been shot in St. Louis in the past seven days. Two of them were killed.

On Tuesday, representatives from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Louis County Police Department held a press conference to announce that three recent shooting deaths are linked. Two of the victims were Black females — 16-year old Marnay Haynes and 49-year old Pam Abercrombie.

When police were asked if a serial killer was responsible for their deaths, Major Shawn Dace said, “Until we finalize the investigation, we don’t want to categorize it as that right now.”

Abercrombie was shot and killed shortly before midnight on Sept. 16, near the intersection of W. Florissant and E. Prairie. She was known to hang out at that corner and work as a sex worker.

Another sex worker in the neighborhood said she knew Abercrombie, but asked that her identity not be revealed. She said that she and other sex workers are involved in a dangerous line of work, but she didn’t think Black women — or Black sex workers — are being targeted.

“I don’t think there’s a serial killer on the loose, personally,” she said.

She some prostitutes contribute to the dangers they face by stealing from or antagonizing their customers.

“It’s just dumb things they do. So, a lot of them, they endanger themselves,” she said.