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Robbery Suspect Shoots Himself at Elementary School Parking Lot after Police Chase

Categories: Crime

cautionparkinglot.jpg
RCB via Flickr
Police said Nickolas T. Gralike shot himself in the head after being chased to the Blades Elementary School parking lot.
A 24-year-old robbery suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head early Friday morning after police chased him to a south St. Louis County elementary school parking lot.

St. Louis County police officers found Nickolas T. Gralike, of the 700 block of Hill Slope in Jefferson County, dead in his pickup truck along with items stolen from two reported robberies earlier that morning, according to police.

See also: Aldi's Security Guard Shoots Meat Thief After Pepper-Spraying Himself in the Face

During a standoff with police in the Blades Elementary School lot in Oakville, officers saw Gralike fire a single gunshot, which broke out the back window of the truck. One officer, believing the gunshot was aimed at police, returned fire, but an autopsy from the St. Louis County Medical Examiner's office shows no shots fired by the officer hit Gralike.

"They [officers] heard the driver yell something out the window, but then all of a sudden a shot went off, and the back window of the truck broke out," officer Shawn McGuire told the South County Call. McGuire continued, "It looked like a self-inflicted gunshot wound which then blew out the truck window."

The incident started at about midnight Friday, when a victim reported that a robber used a long-barreled gun to steal his cell phone and money at the Bank of America ATM at 4495 Lemay Ferry Road before fleeing on foot.

Hours later, at about 4:30 a.m., officers responded to another robbery at the same ATM. This time, the victim described the gun as a shotgun and said the robber stole his driver's license, credit card, cell phone and cash.

Later, an officer spotted a truck matching the description from the robbery near the Bank of America. The officer turned on his lights and sirens to stop the truck, but Gralike kept driving through the neighborhood avoiding police, and finally pulled into the school lot.

"It was a complete coincidence that it was a school," he told the Call. "There's really nowhere to pull off into, since it's all just subdivision streets. He passed all of those, and I think that the grade school was one of the only openings."

After another officer arrived at the scene, the cops gave Gralike verbal commands before he fired the single shot, prompting one officer to fire back. Police later approached the vehicle to find Gralike dead with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

Follow Lindsay Toler on Twitter at @StLouisLindsay. E-mail the author at Lindsay.Toler@RiverfrontTimes.com.


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31 comments
Cindi Douglas- Asher
Cindi Douglas- Asher

Do you ever read your comments RFT because 1 out of 200 support any thing you say. Learn from that... A lot of people have removed your magazine from their stores and it's free, what does that tell you??? Maybe Holder can come work for you now...

MobyDickOfDopeness
MobyDickOfDopeness

He a good keed he didnt do nuffin!


Need mo money fo dem programs!

John Klostermann
John Klostermann

That is what the RFT does best. CRAPY THIRD GRADE JOURNALISM

Suzy Dempster Doss
Suzy Dempster Doss

I'm not blaming the cops at all, as you said a lot of people try to. I was just trying to point out that this kid was not a hard core criminal or thug and to tell you the truth, he did have a problem and he had others helping him in his times of need. Sometimes the problems that kids face are bigger than they are and no matter what is said, it just doesn't sink in.

Suzy Dempster Doss
Suzy Dempster Doss

Thank you Jean - it is very sad and Savannah, yes you all are too young for this to be happening to you, believe me this past year has been too much for all of us.

Savannah Leigh Bosler
Savannah Leigh Bosler

Thank you Suzy Dempster Doss.....this has been such a hard year :'( We're too young to have to go through this much tragedy...Nick loved life....he fell on hard times and forgot how much he was loved

Savannah Leigh Bosler
Savannah Leigh Bosler

RIP Nick....he was a great friend that fell on hard times. An amazing individual who will be truly missed

Brian Wittling
Brian Wittling

Well there's one more "school shooting" for Bloomberg / MDA I guess.

Laura Dee
Laura Dee

I guess the anti-gun force fields around the area weren't working at the time.

Laura Dee
Laura Dee

Robert and Hainstain are liking each other all over the place. I'm glad they can finally get married in Missouri. Congrats on finding love, boys.

Laura Dee
Laura Dee

Robert, I said this artical doesn't make cops look bad. I am supporting the cops in this situation, yet you somehow think I hate cops. You obviously don't get sarcasm, either, or you'd have realized the Benghazi comment was a joke and was entirely unrelated. You truly are a dipshit.

Jean Null
Jean Null

I agree Suzy This young man was a friend of Dans...He had been struggling with underlying issues for quite some time.Doing better then falling back. The whole situation is very Sad.

Robert Ora Lowe
Robert Ora Lowe

Bryan, you are clueless. You you always resort to playing pretend to sooth your butthurt when you read the truth? Where did I use the word libtard and how is Benghazi even remotely relevant to this? You don't seem very bright, even for a liberal.

Robert Ora Lowe
Robert Ora Lowe

People are waking up but these liberal rags aren't as they steadily march toward suicide.

Robert Ora Lowe
Robert Ora Lowe

For several years this rag was available in our lobby, but a few weeks ago we got rid of it and the stand.

Robert Ora Lowe
Robert Ora Lowe

Laura, seems to me this was a nutcase liberal reporter looking for a reason to hate police. You lapped it right up like the good little follower you are.

ShitaviousJones
ShitaviousJones

No hands-up-don't-shoot? No ham samich' in his possesion? 

Perhaps the perp was on his way to enroll in GED classes? This is what happens when a violent thief doesn't have a faithful lying toady, and a ghetto full of race-baiting tweeters.

Laura Dee
Laura Dee

Maybe you're just looking for the bad, Christopher? I don't see how this makes the cops look bad, either. You'll see bad if you're looking for it.

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