St. Louis PD Brass Misleads Press on Officer's 'Russian Roulette' Death
Courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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St. Louis Metropolitan Police Commissioner John W. Hayden Jr. has some explaining to do.  Initially, he told reporters that a young police officer’s death came as a result of “an accidental discharge” of a weapon.  In reality, two of his officers played ‘Russian roulette’ and it did not end well for either of them.

St. Louis PD Brass Misleads Press on Officer's 'Russian Roulette' Death
Katlyn Alix, front and center. Image courtesy Post-Dispatch.

Police officials initially told reporters that Katlyn Alix’s death came as the result of “an accidental discharge of a weapon.”  From USA Today last Thursday afternoon:

Published 3:22 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2019

Police in St. Louis are investigating the shooting death of a 24-year-old officer early Thursday by a fellow cop who “mishandled” a firearm, authorities said.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police Commissioner John W. Hayden Jr. said Officer Katlyn Alix was shot in the chest shortly before 1 a.m. as she sat in the living room of a fellow officer’s apartment in the city’s Carondelet neighborhood.

Hayden said two on-duty male officers went to one of their homes in the midst of their shift. Alix, who was off duty, met the officers there.

He said Alix was shot in the chest by a 29-year-old officer in what he described as an “accidental discharge of a weapon.”

The department said a preliminary investigation found the officer “mishandled a firearm.”

However, when a Probable Cause Statement leaked, everyone learned the tragic truth.  The Police Commissioner’s claim that the fatal shot came as a result of an “accidental discharge” from a “mishandled” gun seems deceptive at best.

It doesn’t even really begin to describe the felony stupidity involved.

St. Louis PD Brass Misleads Press on Officer's 'Russian Roulette' Death
Image via Twitter. Brandon Merano KSDK.

We now know two St. Louis Metro cops played a deadly game of Russian roulette early Thursday morning.  In the end, Nathaniel Hendren, shot Katlyn Alix (pictured at top) in the chest with a snub-nosed revolver, killing her.

St. Louis PD Brass Misleads Press on Officer's 'Russian Roulette' Death
The apartment in the Carondalet neighborhood where the tragic death occurred in St. Louis. Photo courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Hendron, 29, and his partner stopped by his apartment while on-duty around 1 am Thursday, along with an off-duty Katlyn Alix, 24.

According to the probable cause statement, Alix and Hendren began playing with guns.  Hendren then produced a revolver and unloaded it, save one bullet.  He spun the cylinder, pointed it away and pulled the trigger on an empty chamber.

At this point, Alix took the revolver and pointed it at Hendren – and pulled the trigger.  Once more, the gun clicked as the hammer fell fell on an empty chamber.  Moments later, rocket scientist Hendren took the revolver from Alix, pointing it at the younger woman’s chest. He pulled the trigger, discharging the single round.

Hendren’s partner came running back into the room and the two took the mortally wounded Alix to the hospital.

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney made the ‘felony stupid’ official.  Kim Gardner’s office charged Hendren with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.

He faces 10 years in prison without much likelihood of a plea deal with the prosecutor’s office. The very “progressive” Gardner has already proved herself to be no friend of the local police.

In fact, some describe her as “the most anti-law-enforcement circuit attorney to hold that job.”  Even the judiciary agrees.  A judge barred her office from prosecuting a man shot by police, citing a conflict of interest by Gardner.

St. Louis PD Brass Misleads Press on Officer's 'Russian Roulette' Death
St.Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner. Photo courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Meanwhile, Officer Alix leaves behind a husband.  Hendren leaves behind his career with the SLMPD.  No word on whether the partner will have a job when the dust settles on the investigation, either.

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142 COMMENTS

  1. Remember, it’s common sense that only law enforcement officials have the proper training and discipline to be trusted with firearms.

    • This has all the earmarks of a tribal “allegiance” ritual, It wasn’t enough for each player to pull his/her own trigger. Instead, the test of officer loyalty and trust was enhanced by each person pointing the gun and pulling the trigger at the other person. That it was a female office, younger by several years than her opposite number, just raises the odds that she was doing that as a way of proving that she was a tough as the boys.
      Sad. And a sad commentary of police culture and the people who do cop work.

      • TTAG Mods: It sure would be great if you’d REINSTALL THE EDIT FUNCTION!!! Some of us have trouble seeing our errors before the post stuff. Scheech.

        • I’m not 100% certain the removal of the ‘edit’ feature is related to the tendency of the commentariat to call out typos and grammatical errors, but it seems plausible, if not likely.

      • “This has all the earmarks of a tribal “allegiance” ritual, It wasn’t enough for each player to pull his/her own trigger.”

        You know, that theory makes more sense than just about any other so far…

    • Since they are so highly trained, honorable and trustworthy we should hand over all our weapons to them. I think you might have a better chance giving them up to some gang banger.

  2. I’m not buying what they’re selling. Really, Russian Roulette? I won’t cast aspersions on the deceased, but something was going on and the shooter wanted it to go no further. How do they know the deceased held the weapon and pulled the trigger, the dead officer can neither confirm nor deny the story.

  3. I don’t believe this was an accidental shooting. Sounds like a premeditated murder with a really lame excuse. If I was on the jury I wouldn’t buy the Russian Roulette explanation at all.

    • No duh. Married woman off duty at another officer’s apartment while he is on-duty at 1 AM? Has to be innocent, right? I suspect no-shit murder, probably premeditated, having to do with folks’ nether regions misbehaving without their permission.

      • yeah, sounds like there was something else going on here. Married woman was likely getting cold feet and was ready to break it off. Dude in the affair met up with her to talk and the third wheel tagged along to either mediate and keep it civil or just because he was partnered up and obliged to come along. Things went south.

        Or, they’re both just that stupid. Probably that’s true no matter what the specific circumstances

      • Don’t be shooting people in the chest at 1 a.m. in your house and blaming it on some idiot Russian Roulette game, and you won’t have any problems with me as your juror.

    • Concur re the official story being bullshit.

      It smells very much like someone was trying to cover up serious misconduct, and it went very wrong.

      If I was in charge, I would separate the suspects and interrogate the living sh*t out of them.

  4. Don’t think the prosecutor needs to be anti-police to put this guy in jail. I also think the Russian roulette story is bogus. Married officer having an affair that was about to break open is more likely what happened. The whole thing just smells.

      • “You don’t commit murder to cover up adultery.”
        Now, that’s funny, right there.
        Obviously, you have no idea just how little some people (especially those with even a little authority) value a life.

  5. I bet Hendren’s “partner” is the one who shot Alix, perhaps in anger over a suspected affair, and Hendren and his partner cooked up the Russian Roulette story.

  6. I’m not buying what they’re selling. Really, Russian Roulette? I won’t cast aspersions on the deceased, but something was going on and the shooter wanted it to go no further. How do they know the deceased held the weapon and pulled the trigger, the dead officer can neither confirm nor deny the story.

    • Could be, but that would require a level of intoxication in 3 separate police officers (2 on-duty) that I’m not familiar with.

      • To be fair, the incident already involved a level of suicidal gun handling and an unwillingness to take responsibility that most of us are ALSO unfamiliar with…

    • I’ve never been so drunk that I thought it was a good idea to point a gun at a friend’s chest and pull the trigger.

      • I can agree with that. In my 72 years, I have been knee walking, commode hugging drunk times beyond counting, and hundreds of those times I was in possession of a loaded gun. Yet I have *NEVER* even approached that drunk. IOW, I vote bullshit.

  7. This has me questioning the St Louis PD police academy firearms training/safety instruction.

    I can’t imagine how anyone could spin a revolver and point it at a person and think the odds of something very bad happening are small.

    Insane.

    • There’s probably nothing at all wrong with the firearms instruction they recieved at the academy. This wasn’t accidental or negligent, it was intentional.

    • The odds of something bad happening were (most likely) 1 in 6… then 1 in 5… and then 1 in 4. Would they have kept it up until the odds were 1 in 1? Can’t fathom he thought processes going on here, other than a desire for death.

  8. How come comments don’t get posted, yet your site says you posted that comment already. This place gets more unusable by the day.

    • I see your comment just fine. Nevermind. You’re right. I found them.

      Posting more than one link in a comment will sometimes cause them to get held up by our rather robust spam-fighting software. Or if your IP has been banned, your posts won’t show up.

      There are also certain keywords that cause a comment to go into “pending”…
      and we have to release them manually. Apparently “Russian” is one of those? I just turned loose 7 pending comments.
      John

  9. There is a rumor that police departments don’t like to hire smart people. Smart people cause to many issues and don’t follow orders without question.

    • “I’m sorta curious why a married woman was at Hendren’s apartment at 1am.”

      First think I wondered.

      The story makes zero sense. Were they all suicidal? Possible, but doubtful.

      We don’t know all of it, not by a long shot…

    • Married woman? 0100? Meeting up with two men in an apartment? I’m not convinced that revolver was the only gun out during that particular soiree.

  10. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
    1 dead, 1 in prison, 1 unemployed and unemployable.
    Thankfully none of them will ever have a badge and a gun. Absolutely one of the stupidest things have heard about law enforcement members in a long time. St. Louis PD needs better screening of individuals who wish to be officers.

    • Don’t bet on it. The criminal charges will “go away”. You see, the “thin blue line” takes care of its own. The two will probably get picked up by another department. It would be a shame to wasted valuable experience for one “incident”…

  11. $100 says they had proper training and did not include playing Russian Roulette. Trigger man should go to prison. Other officer should be fired and law enforcement standards revoked. And even though she was a willing participant, condolences to the family.

      • Just basing on the article and what sworn statement said. I’m not privy to the evidence, witness interviews, or interviews with friends and family of victim/suspect. That said, it were my investigation I would be very sceptical of the above story.

      • Just basing it on the article and what sworn statement said. I’m not privy to the evidence, witness interviews, or interviews with friends and family of victim/suspect. That said, if it were my investigation I would be very sceptical of the above story.

        • Sometimes I to correct a gramatic error and this “smart phone” sends them both. I own/carry more 1911s than any other pistol. .45 ACP. 9mm 1911s are just stupid. And I still double tapped. Rifles too. Always said, “Anybody worth shooting is worth shooting twice.”

  12. Back when I was chasing women, Me & my pal ran into a couple of gals that invited us to their apt. For a drink, An hour later two guys show up in suits, then the competition was on, next thing was the two dudes take of their jackets, there it was, snub nose 38s or 357s , then I saw the badges on their belts, they pull out the pistols & start twirling them, like John Wayne, Didn’t know it but the girls were off duty cops also, the dudes told my friend & me that we were not welcome there anymore, ..we left.., so ya , cops play with their guns also.

    • Makes me think of the story a family member told about a fellow cop on the police force he was on.
      He got drunk and decided to do some fast draw practice in his abode. He shot his TV and the fellow officers called him Elvis from then on.

      True story so I’ve been told. ‘Course it’s 30 years old now…

  13. How do we know he only had one bullet in the gun.?

    I’m guessing there is more to this story. It may come out….may not.

    Seems pretty fishy to me. Maybe I’m just cynical like that.

  14. Their story doesn’t hold up. I suspect an affair and a murder. That makes a lot more sense than “playing a game”. No sane person would point a loaded weapon at another, pull the trigger, and expect everything to be fine. They are lying or insane.

  15. Sounds like a good cover story to hide the real truth. I would not doubt that there was an altercation of some sort and she was shot deliberately. This story does not pass the smell test.

  16. Three idiots and a gun. No matter what the real story is (and imagine this, the Russian Roulette story is the best they could come up with!) these people are part of the reason there is perception of a “gun problem”. Police departments may not be looking for rocket scientists, but are there no standards at all? The two survivors need the book thrown at them.

    • The two survivors, huh? That made me think. The third cop was *on duty*, probably should have arrested the other two prior to the first pull of the trigger, if this report has any truth to it.

  17. We now know two St. Louis Metro cops claim to have played a deadly game of Russian roulette early Thursday morning.

    —because the alternative is that it was murder in the first degree.

    Since when do you play Russian Roulette by pointing a gun at the girl you’ve been banging and pulling the trigger?

  18. So Russian Roullette…don’t you usually hand the gun over and the other party fires at themselves? Its not RR if you take the shot for them!

  19. If this was you or me, that Russian roulette bullshit story would be right out the window and a 1st degree murder rap as a result of an extra marital affair would be front and center for the prosecution. Special blue snowflake treatment. Young lady was murdered.

  20. This is what you get when you DUMB DOWN the requirements to be a police officer and allow AFFIRMATIVE ACTION to set the standards. This officer needs to be charged with MURDER.

  21. Stupid Ass jerks. These are the type people that are supposed to protect the community? If the investigation comes out correct and the guilty person gets 10yrs., the Court should at least double the sentence.

  22. So, it will be interesting to see if Hendron’s partner is charged, also. We had a long discussion a week or two ago about people being charged with murder, even though they did not participate in the shooting. The partner certainly seems to have been part of the game.

  23. Maybe I’ve been misled by Hollywood, but that’s not how Russian roulette works. Unless there’s more thrill in a potential murder charge than there is suicide.

    Either way, that’s either the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard, or these people are so mind-numbingly stupid they should’ve died years ago from stupidity. Definitely nothing suspect about an off-duty, married female officer hanging out with on-duty men at 1am…..

  24. Definitely, NO LEO Carve-outs this crew! If it were “civilians” involved….The gun control politics would be all over the local news! The police commissioner NEEDS to have his ass reamed out for trying to mislead the general public…Maybe the people (voters) could start whatever process is necessary to recall this jamoke….

  25. This story sounds like complete and utter nonsense.

    This young woman most likely stumbled onto some bit of police corruption, and it cost her life.

    Use Occam’s Razor here, folks. The simplest explanation isn’t even some sort of sexual affair. Knowing something about the police department and the political leadership involved in this area, the easiest answer is police corruption.

    The RR story is all about taking the death penalty off the table. That’s it. This way, they can answer to a charge manslaughter instead of premeditated murder. 10 years? For a guy under 30? No big deal.

    Once again, I’ll say it: there are cops who know who the dirty cops are. To those cops, I recommend quitting the “thin blue line” nonsense, naming the corrupt SOB’s, and ridding the ranks of the corruption.

  26. Pretty sad that a DA treating cops like any other citizen is now “anti police”.

    Sounds like she found at least 29 cops who are such blatant liars that they can no longer be trusted in court. Of course the cops are squealing like stuck hogs that someone is actually calling them on their lies.

  27. The chief should be charged with lying to the public. Make it a capital offense for any government employee to every lie to the citizens for any reason.

    Lying government employees are a danger to us all.

  28. While they are doing the autopsy, they should checknthe dedeased for semen in her reproductive tract and do DNA analysis to identify whose semen.

  29. Follow the sex. It was murder. Married and at another man’s house at 1am??? Two other guys on duty in the wrong district show up???

    • They were in the wrong district? Whatever, it was the shooter’s home, yes? At the least there is suspicion due to them not doing the damn JOB.

  30. This reminds me of the case of Officer Gomes of the Portland, Oregon police department who shot his wife in an obscenely brutal manner. Officers with the Gresham Police were called to the officers home where they found a nude woman on a blood soaked bed with a singular entrance wound from a 12 gauge shotgun “in the area of het right buttocks.” They made no arrest because they “saw no evidence of domestic violence.” (She actually survived being shot with buckshot although she required 50 units of blood and lost a leg along with several internal organs) It seems that Officer Gomes simply neglected to unload his 12 gauge before “playing around with it.” My sarcastic suggestion to the Portland Police Bureau’s firearms training officer that his department should institute a program to distribute Kevlan condoms to their officers so that they can practice safe shotgun sex was unappreciated. The members of the SWAT unit that I encountered at my local gun club reacted angrilly to the suggestion which led to an amusing altercation.

  31. And this is why magazine capacity restrictions are stupid. A five-shot revolver, downloaded to a single round, and still a cop is shot in a tragic case of gun violence. Next we’ll see legislation for zero-capacity guns.

    • No next you will see war on cops bullshit.
      They will use this death stat to bolster their crybaby claims.
      Imagine if things were as bad as the seventies when it was dangerous for cops in general.

      • Because you think they are crybabies and their job is not that dangerous? There are more and more mentally ill and drug addicted people. Many cops frequently deal with people in crisis. They also spend countless hours on the road which puts them at risk of a bad crash more than most professions. It is ranked as one of the most stressful job, which means higher risks of high blood pressure, heart issues etc. Danger can happen anytime, a “routine” call or traffic stop, stopping on a stupid simple traffic stop, junkies in excited delirium, suicide by cop, distracted drivers…
        If it’s not that dangerous, why are so many agencies ways short on people? Because most folks with an education who at some point considered law enforcement, realize “F that I don’t want to deal with all these craziness even for $35/hr with a decent pension!”.
        When people think “danger/law enforcement” they think being shot at, danger comes in many flavors, getting HIV or Hepatitis, exposure to fentanyl or contaminated needles, etc

    • This is why we need common sense gun safety laws. This sort of thing couldn’t have happened with a single-shot muzzleloader.

  32. As was pointed our J Frame revolver.
    First turn, 1/5 chance, aimed “reportedly” to the side.
    Second turn, 1/4 chance. “Reportedly” aimed at officer.
    Third turn, 1/3 chance. Kills officer.
    Even counting on your fingers, the problem is right in your face. Had she not been shot Hendren would face 1/2 odds of dying.
    To accept their story, we have to believe that none of the three knew the rules of Russian Roulette. (Spin the cylinder keep the odds 1/5). We’d also have to believe that none of the three had the survival skills of roadkill. Hendren, pointing the gun at her thinks. “Hey if this doesn’t go “bang” I’m going to chicken out or die.”

  33. While sitting cross leged years ago a numbnuts pointed an “empty” S&W model 36 at my crotch. I started to let my foot slam into the side of his head but considered that the “empty” gun might not be. I was saved the trouble when a friend pulled his Model 27 and told the moron to lay the cocked revolver carefully on the floor or it would be the last thing he didn’t do. Moron complied. We were at a shooting range and moron was a “range officer”. He was no longer welcomed.

  34. Such a horrible waste of a life. The idiots who took part all deserve long prison time. The man who fired the killing shot of course should get the worst of it, but all who took part are criminally responsible for that young woman’s death.

  35. And sure enough, the usual idiots are present to show their hate toward law enforcement.
    Absolutely ZERO compassion for the deceased officer.
    It’s also refreshing to read the repetitive critics condemning the entire profession. Because ALL cops are bad one way or another. Well at least the weekly article on TTAG is telling my small brain they all are, thousands of them across the country, don’t trust a single one!

  36. Listen, unless you’ve worked in law enforcement or close enough (medic, fire) you can call them crybabies, crooks, idiots, donut eaters, gun grabbers all you want…the fact is your knowledge is limited to “a friend of my cousin was apparently victim of police brutality”, “I read my monthly anti cops article on TTAG”, “I saw a video on YouTube”, “I am bitter because I got busted for driving drunk and it was really not my fault”…
    If you’re so great, and if being a cop is that easy, consider applying.
    For those who really hate law enforcement, and there are a few on TTAG, don’t hesitate not to call us. Because that never fails, as sure as death or paying taxes, we frequently deal with those who hate us but cannot handle their kids, their marriage, their neighbors, without us getting involved. It always cracks me up, the parasites who hate us but CALL 911 5 times in the month because their life is a failure.

    • My experience as a FF/EMT is that the guys with the county sheriff’s department? Usually great guys.

      The (much) better paid city cops? Meh. Often they’re out of larger cities, and they come with your kind of attitude, ready to tell us hayseeds how they’re going to do business.

      The state agencies? They just circle an accident scene, sticking their snouts in the middle of medical interventions, asking EMT’s and medics to break HIPAA regulations…

      My experience is this: the better some LEO is paid, the more useless they are on a scene.

      • I have experience what you’re saying as well as the opposite. Back where I grew up the counties were good average people and the city dudes were the “frat jock” bully douchebags who were bored in the sleepy little town and so they strutted around like they were hard to compensate. However, where I’m at now is on the opposite end of the country and the dynamics are flipped. The city cops here are decent average people who are usually kinda keyed up because the city is, despite its relatively small size, a cesspit with multiple murders a year and rampant drug proliferation and violence, and the county guys are all POS d-bags running around with a badge thanks to the old boy system and good old fashioned nepotism.

    • I’ve called the cops a couple times in my life. They were, at best, useless. At worst, on more than one occasion, I seriously regretted calling them.

      I’m happy to not call. I’ve more or less vowed never to call the cops again if I can possibly help it.

    • I signed up, but was unable to do enough pushups in a short enough timespan to get further into the application process.

      One of the other guys in my class was pro at doing pushups. College footballer, clicked his pushups out with a quickness.

      Today, I’m a shipping clerk in a car dealership, and he’s doing 263 years for 18 charges of sexual assault.

    • JOSH Cancel Reply. Sorry.
      I change my mind, you would not listen anyway.
      PS., wasn’t a friend of a friend, but you would not give a shit anyway since Cops are infallible.

  37. It may be that Hayden was going off of an initial lie told by the defendant who later changed his story.

    It could also be that the story may change further because it sure sounds stupid.

  38. “uh, 911, I swear I didn’t murder nobody, it was, uh, Russian roulette, yeah that’s what it was, Russian roulette. Yeah, that’s it, she came over to my place at 0100, on duty, to play Russian roulette at my place. because, uh, it’s like on duty training or something. like I said, I didn’t murder nobody!”

  39. Well at least it’s not one of those cases where a gun suddenly “went off”

    And I agree, there must be much more to the story

  40. This is just heartbreaking beyond words.

    0100? Really? Are we sure that Russian Roulette was the only game being played?

    Pro tip: Don’t hang around Stupid People in Stupid Places at Stupid Times doing Stupid Things. I guess that now includes cops.

  41. I watched the news report the next morning and they reported it as it actually happened, they reported it as a game of “russian roulette” that went tragically wrong.

  42. Clearly this is a murder. Game of “russian roulette” is just cover up. The dead can’t tell what exactly happened anyway.

  43. I guess that this shows that Lt. Kendra, The Homicide Hunter from Colorado Springs, is right when he says: “Nothing good happens after midnight.” As an aside I have read that an unbelievable percentage of cops killed by firearms are killed by other cops, often while training or just after that when they “forget” that their firearm has been reloaded. The FBI is a might sloppy too, the first female FBI agent killed in the line of duty was killed by another FBI agent.

  44. I say they all be treated as civilians (to be kind, since they should be really treated as negligent professionals which would imply a greater breach of a greater duty and greater penalty). The dead officer, Katlyn Alix, should posthumously dishonorably discharged for conduct unbecoming an officer; Hendren should be charged with premeditated murder, he did pull the trigger twice and he did set up the “game” in the first place, and suffer the maximum penalty since as an LEO he cannot be in any way excuse himself as naïve. His unnamed partner is clearly guilty of Felony Murder and should be charged as such and get the maximum penalty for murder. Since the department failed to do a proper investigation and tried to sweep everything under the rug and failed in proper alcohol and drug testing, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Commissioner John W. Hayden Jr. should be charged as accessory to murder and should serve time and also suffer the fate of BSO Sherriff Israel.
    Play Русская рулетка, pay Российское наказание!

  45. Its sad and unfortunate for the family of the victim. I agree with most that this story is far from the truth; its definitely more to this story. It doesn’t look good that she was newly married and at another males house that late in the morning while her husband (a cop too) is at work in another district. This really sounds like an affair that went wrong that morning and maybe alcohol/drugs were a factor and could have caused things to be escalated. According to local news info online, the neighbor heard yelling before the shot and had seen the victim there before. As far as his black eye, I think once the husband was at the hospital, he may have had something to do with the officer’s face….and rightfully so!!! Those two officers are covering up the real events of that morning. I hope her family gets the REAL truth and justice for their daughter.

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