By Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A St. Louis County man is being charged with first degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting death of University City Police Officer Michael King on Halloween.
The suspect in the case is 41-year-old Todd Shepard of Berkeley, Missouri.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch would not speculate on motive or whether he is considering the death penalty.
"At this stage on our case right now our allegation is that he shot Sergeant King causing his death. We have not gone into and won't go into specifics about the evidence in the case," says McCulloch.
Shepard is the chief suspect in the murder of Michael King, a 25-year police veteran.
U-City Police Chief Charles Adams says moving forward with the case is helping the department mourn its loss.
"It was extremely important toward our healing, but its like anything else, when you lose a member of your family it takes awhile to recover," says Adams.
King was shot with a stolen gun while sitting in his patrol car.
Shepard is also being held on federal drug charges and will be arraigned Thursday.