I went to school with this kid, hung out with him once in a while in grade school...and our family got a puppy from his family once.
Damn.
Smithton suspect was ordered to stay away from wife
By Nicholas J.C. Pistor
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/06/2009
UPDATE: 4:02 P.M.
SMITHTON -- A judge ordered a Smithton man to stay away from his estranged wife just two weeks before police say he broke into a Smithton home today and tried to hold her hostage.
Police did not release the name of the suspect, who is in critical condition after shooting himself in the head this morning. But court documents and a source close to the case confirmed the suspect is Terris Stahl, 34, of Smithton.
When Erin Stahl told her husband last month she wanted a divorce, he refused, according to court records.
"Terris threatened to kill me with a gun that he had...he kept poking me in the chest with his fingers yelling that he will never let me go, I am his forever," Erin Stahl wrote in a petition for a restraining order. The order was granted on March 23.
Erin Stahl, 29, called the police last month after she said her husband threatened to beat her with a lamp.
"He kept calling me on my cell phone saying that he wasn’t going to leave me alone...that I am his wife and always will be," she wrote.
Monday morning, Terris Stahl broke into the back door of the home around 4 a.m. and attempted to hold four people inside hostage. All of them, including the couple’s 4 year-old child, were able to escape.
Stahl remained in the home for about eight hours. Police surrounded the home and attempted to communicate with him, at one point throwing tear gas into the home. Around noon, they prepared to send in a robotic camera, but noticed Stahl was lying down on the home’s living room floor. They entered the home and took him into custody.
Stahl survived an apparent gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was airlifted to a St. Louis hospital.
The standoff came less than a month after Erin Stahl filed for divorce. The two were married in 2005 about 10 months after their only child was born, according to court records.
Terris Stahl worked at Hertz Rental Equipment in St. Louis, according to court records. He was ordered to pay child support of $150 per week.
Stahl was arrested last week for violating the restraining order. Charges involving Monday’s incident haven’t been filed.