Woman Who Shot at Students Free on Bond

Judges, prosecutors face more scrutiny for bond violations

Written by RYAN KRULL

Video obtained by the RFT appears to show a 20-yearold woman opening fire on two Confluence Preparatory Academy students last December. That woman, Cierra Wealleans, was charged with assault and armed criminal action that month and has remained free on bond despite violating the terms of her bond twice in December and eight times in January.

The alleged shooting occurred December 6, 2022, as the Downtown West charter school was being dismissed. A probable cause statement from St. Louis police says that Cierra Wealleans got into an argument with two students on the 15th Street sidewalk near several school buses.

The surveillance video of the incident is shot from a distance but shows a woman with her hand in her jacket standing on the sidewalk in front of a white car. She draws the attention of an adult who positions himself between the woman and the students. Another individual wearing a jacket and tie, who according to the probable cause statement is the school principal, acts as a buffer between the woman and other bystanders. The two of them move onto 15th Street, at which point the woman pulls a gun out of her jacket and begins firing. Everyone in the area runs and ducks for cover.

The shooter is quickly tackled by the school principal and a security guard. The school buses leave the scene as quickly as they can.

A person on one of those buses captured a video of the security guard and the principal tackling the shooter to the ground. The video shows an ammo magazine laying on the sidewalk next to Wealleans as she is being subdued.

The police probable cause statement says that Wealleans dropped the gun as she was being tackled, causing it to fire again. A bullet grazed Wealleans’ hand.

Wealleans was arrested and charged with two counts of assault, two counts of armed criminal action and one count of unlawful use of a weapon.

On December 8, Judge Madeline O. Connolly ordered Wealleans to be held with no bond.

But a week later, Wealleans was released on GPS monitoring and house arrest by Judge Clinton Robert Wright. Records from the Circuit Attorney’s Office indicate that the office took the position Wealleans ought to have no bond and remain in jail. Nonetheless, she was released to wait for her court date on February 2, about six weeks later.

During those six weeks, Total Court Services, which operates the GPS monitors, alerted the court 10 times that Wealleans had violated her GPS tracking throughout December and January.

A January 27 notification from Total Court Services says, “Dear Judge: The service of this client’s device has been disconnected … due to having a GPS strap tamper for 3 days.”

A “strap tamper” refers to an individual with the tracking device attempting to remove it.

The February 2 hearing was rescheduled until February 7, at which point a grand jury indicted Wealleans, and her case was sent to a different judge’s courtroom.

On February 7, Judge Michael Stelzer ordered Wealleans to remain free on GPS monitoring despite the numerous violations throughout January.

Last week, prosecutor Andrew Russek filed a motion requesting Wealleans’ bond be revoked, citing the monitoring violations.

This was at least the third time

Wealleans’ bond status came before a judge.

Last week, Judge Rochelle Woodiest ordered that Wealleans immediately report to Total Court Services to have her GPS monitor reinstalled. The judge scheduled a bond hearing on March 9, but Wealleans remains free on bond in the meantime.

Details of Wealleans’ case are seeing scrutiny thanks to the dispute between Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner and the 22nd Circuit Court in St. Louis regarding who was responsible for 21-year-old Daniel Riley being free on bond when he caused a car crash that resulted in a teenager visiting from out of town to lose both her legs.

At the heart of the contention is whether prosecutors made an oral motion for Riley to remain out of jail on bond. Riley had racked up dozens of GPS monitoring violations, and Gardner’s office says it asked for the bond to be revoked — but the lack of a written motion to revoke has led critics to question the assertion. (Riley’s former defense attorney has stated that Gardner’s office sought orally to revoke the bond at least once.)

The controversy has demonstrated how difficult it can be to determine from court records how issues of bond are determined in hearings.

Last week, it appeared as though the Riley case has altered how prosecutors carry out their business in court. In Judge Bryan Hettenbach’s courtroom, someone made a remark about how parties with business before the court were now “documenting everything.” In reply, the judge quipped that he had “stacks of paperwork the state has filed about many things.” He added, “It’s a new day in the 22nd Circuit.” n

Homecoming

St. Louis CITY SC finally plays its first game in St. Louis er with St. Louis ties.

“I’ve been waiting,” he said, “for 25 years.” their lungs, howled at the sky and smacked each other’s hands. They banged the railings and stomped the ground until it shook. Popcorn flew in the air, and beer rained down on the crowd.

On Saturday, there was no more waiting: CITY SC hosted its first home game against Charlotte FC in front of a sold-out, 22,423-person crowd.

Words

by BENJAMIN SIMON

Photos

by

REUBEN HEMMER

When Andrew Gai settled into his seat in the second row of the supporter’s section at CITYPARK stadium, he looked down on the pitch like a proud father. He wore a red CITY SC jersey under a cutoff jean jacket with a Saint Louis City Punks patch. With a soft smile and watery eyes, he thought back to the FIFA 98. He used to play the soccer video game as the Columbus Crew because it had one play-

“Today, the result was always going to be secondary,” head coach Bradley Carnell said in the postgame press conference. “We’re fighting with the emotions of 70 years of history.”

Despite Charlotte FC scoring the first goal, CITY made a comeback. Forty minutes into the game, just before halftime, CITY SC defender Jakob Nerwinski floated a cross into the Charlotte box. Charlotte defender Bill Tuiloma tried to head the ball safely out of danger. Instead, it went over his own goalie and into the net — the first CITY SC goal in CITYPARK history.

The crowd erupted into a tsunami of cheers. Red smoke burst into the sky. Fans screamed at the top of

Five minutes later, CITY midfielder Eduard Löwen scored on a penalty kick. In the 71st minute, Brazilian forward João Klauss fired in a goal to extend the lead to 3-1.

With a comfortable 3-1 lead in most stadiums, fans would leave early, beat the traffic and get a head start on their evenings. But when the final whistles rang out on Saturday evening and CITY defender Kyle Hiebert kicked the ball up in the air and pumped his fist, triggering red smoke and a wave of STL cheers, every seat was filled.

After the game, the CITY SC players and staff walked to the edge of the field. They stopped at each section. They waved to fans, clasped their hands in gratitude and basked in the sound of soccer in St. Louis. n

A CELEBRATION OF THE UNIQUE AND FASCINATING ASPECTS OF OUR HOME