Man Indicted on Drug and Gun Charges
Accused of Being Involved in Convenience Store Shootout
ST. LOUIS – A man from St. Louis, Missouri accused of involvement in a convenience store shootout was indicted Wednesday on drug and gun charges.
Kennis Body, 25, was indicted on a drug conspiracy count, one count of possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances and one count of possession of one or more firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
A criminal complaint and a motion seeking to have Body held in jail until trial accuse him of wielding an AR-15-style rifle during a shootout inside a St. Louis convenience store on January 9. After an altercation, people inside the store drew handguns and appeared to fire them out of the store. Body then walked in with the rifle and fired multiple rounds into the store, the complaint and detention motion say.
During Body’s Jan. 31 arrest, police, U.S. Marshals and Drug Enforcement Administration agents found the loaded AR-style rifle and about 670 capsules containing suspected fentanyl, the motions say. Body was on probation at the time of the arrest and the shooting.
The drug charges each carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both. The firearm charge carries a sentence of five years to life in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
DEA investigated the case with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
