By Kim Bell
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS COUNTY — A tactical officer fired 18 shots from a neighbor’s window to kill a gunman last month in Oakville, according to new video released Friday.
St. Louis County police released officers’ body camera videos as part of a 16-minute critical incident briefing to elaborate on the Sept. 15 shootout.
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County police Lt. Col. Gerald Lohr said the suspect — Ryan Bret Woods — was holed up in his home as he fired at police and neighboring houses. When police discovered Woods dead inside his home, they also found 150 shell casings and a fully automatic rifle he had been using.
The shooting was in the 200 block of Tapestry Drive. No one else was hurt. Some vehicles and at least one home were struck by gunfire.
Woods, 40, lived at the home on Tapestry. Several people in the area, including Woods’ mother, called 911 that afternoon. One caller said a man, suspected of being on drugs, was firing shots inside and out of his home. Another said the man was carrying an AR-style rifle outside, and multiple rounds were heard coming from the garage.
Police closed off the area, evacuated neighbors and used a loudspeaker to try to convince Woods to come out peacefully.
An aunt said Woods was in the home by himself but that Woods thought there were people with him, “and that may be what he’s shooting at,” a dispatcher said.
An officer talked with Woods’ mother and also called Woods’ cellphone to try to negotiate his surrender. Woods hung up at least twice. Police spent more than 90 minutes trying to get him to come out, Lohr said, but still he fired rounds toward police.
Later, Woods told an officer by phone that he needed a drink and to eat something and then would come out of the house.
More shots were heard inside the basement, then later out of the front door. He had a cloth covering a window. Police heard several bursts of gunfire. Around that time, nearby schools were scheduled to release students for the day, so police contacted schools officials to make sure no students came down Tapestry.
As some officers took cover behind police cars, a tactical officer went into a home directly across from Woods’ house. Police moved the residents out, pulled back some drapes and an officer positioned himself at a window.
Around 4:30 p.m. , police saw Woods using a rifle to break out a window at his home. With that, the tactical officer shot and killed Woods, Lohr said. Lohr said the one officer fired 18 rounds.
Authorities have not said how many times Woods was hit.
The officer is 44 with 18 years of police experience. His name was not released. No other officers fired shots.
The critical incident briefing doesn’t give a motive for Woods’ behavior that day. Woods’ father, Timothy Woods , told a reporter Friday that he didn’t want to comment without talking with other relatives first. He said he hadn’t seen the police briefing.
Woods was on parole since June, after serving time for tampering with a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance, receiving stolen property and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to Karen Pojmann, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Pojmann provided the Post-Dispatch with a mugshot of Woods. St. Louis County police did not.
The briefing, police said, isn’t meant to conclude if the officers followed department policy or the law. Police are investigating the shooting. The department’s findings will ultimately go to the prosecuting attorney for review.
St. Louis County police began releasing these critical incident briefings to the public in 2022, and so far about 20 have been released. The county’s Police Board said its goal was to release body camera or dashboard camera footage within 45 days of a “critical incident” involving a county officer.
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