ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Latest on the investigation into a fatal attack at a religious supplies store near St. Louis (all times local):
5:30 p.m.
Authorities say a woman who was killed at a suburban St. Louis religious supplies store earlier this week refused her attacker's demands to "perform deviant sexual acts on him."
Detectives say in a probable cause statement released Wednesday that the attacker forced the three women who were in the store into a back room at gunpoint and forced them to strip. They say he shot the 53-year-old married mother of three in the head and then sexually assaulted the other two women.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch identified the suspect in Monday's attack at the Catholic Supply store in Ballwin as 53-year-old Thomas Bruce, of Imperial, which is another St. Louis suburb.
Bruce is charged with 17 counts, including first-degree murder, sodomy or attempted sodomy and others.
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5 p.m.
Prosecutors have charged a 53-year-old man with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, sodomy and other counts in a sexual assault and fatal shooting at a suburban St. Louis religious supplies store.
St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch on Wednesday announced charges against Thomas Bruce of Imperial, in Monday's attack at a Catholic Supply store in another St. Louis suburb, Ballwin. Bruce's arrest ended a two-day manhunt that frightened the region and led some schools, churches and businesses to close.
Authorities say the gunman sexually assaulted someone and shot 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt in the head. The married mother of three died later at a hospital.
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4 p.m.
A man has been jailed on suspicion of murder, armed criminal action and sodomy in connection with a sexual assault and fatal shooting at a suburban St. Louis religious supplies store.
Formal charges haven't been filed, but multiple media reports say the suspect was booked Wednesday into the St. Louis County jail. Police confirmed earlier Wednesday that a "person of interest" was being questioned.
The arrest came two days after a gunman entered the Catholic Supply store near Ballwin. Police have said the attacker sexually assaulted someone and shot 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt in the head. She died later at a hospital.
Schmidt, a mother of two adult children and a high school student, was a customer at the store.
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1:15 p.m.
Police in suburban St. Louis say they are questioning a "person of interest" in a fatal shooting and sexual assault at a religious supply store.
St. Louis County police said Wednesday that the man being interviewed is 53 years old. No other details have been released, but police are characterizing him as a person of interest "at this time."
On Monday, a gunman sexually assaulted at least one person and fatally shot 53-year-old Jamie Schmidt of House Springs, Missouri, inside the Catholic Supply store near the town of Ballwin. Schmidt, a mother of three, was a customer. Authorities have declined to say if more than one woman was assaulted.
Schmidt died later Monday at a hospital.
The gunman got away after the shooting, prompting a massive manhunt.
