Man Charged with Teen’s Fatal St. Louis Freeway Shooting Linked to Earlier Road Attack

A federal complaint links Willie Herndon, the suspect in the Oct. 14 freeway shooting that killed 17-year-old Alyssa Wilson near St. Louis, to a separate gunfire incident on Interstate 55 three days earlier. A shell casing recovered at the earlier scene bears the same manufacturer as the one found in Wilson’s case, and lab analysis is underway to confirm a ballistic connection. Herndon, convicted of prior felonies in Los Angeles, is scheduled for a pre-trial detention hearing in East St. Louis and a preliminary hearing on Nov. 4, while his wife Taiya faces a state charge of hindering prosecution and a $500,000 bail hearing.

Security video captured a white Buick Enclave stopping on the shoulder of I-170, where Herndon allegedly opened fire with an AR-15 rifle loaded with MaxxTech 7.62×39 ammo, the same brand as the casing from the I-55 shooting. Authorities also seized notebooks with license-plate numbers and descriptions of law-enforcement personnel from the couple’s hotel room. Alyssa’s father described the killing as senseless, and no injuries were reported in the earlier freeway attack.