Family of St. Louis Police Captain David Dorn speaks about his ‘senseless’ killing

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    ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — Retired Police Chief David Dorn spent the majority of his life protecting his community and he continued to do so until his very last breath.

“The fact that he was protecting and serving, this is the way, I feel in my heart of hearts that he would have liked to leave this earth,” said Dorn’s son, Brian Powell.

Officials with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) said Dorn, 77, was shot in the torso around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. Police said he was shot by people looting Lee’s Pawn and Jewelry shop during a night of vandalism and destruction across St. Louis.

In his retirement, Dorn often checked on the store owned by his friend.

“It was senseless, it was senseless. Over TVs and stuff that’s replaceable,” Powell said. “They’re forgetting the real message of the protest and the positiveness that’s supposed to come out of it. And we get this negative light shown on a situation that really needs light to be brought to it.”

Powell said his father was beloved by all. Dorn joined the St. Louis City police department in 1969 and retired in 2007 as a captain. After his retirement, he became chief of police in Moline Acres.

“One of those guys you could rely on no matter the situation. He’s like the father we all wanted to be around all the time,” said former co-worker and former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Sgt. Tom Lake.

Lake was shot in the line of duty in 2016. He said all he can think about is his friend’s final moments.

“Just how alone the man felt after being injured, not having anybody there. Because I’ve been there,” Lake said.

Dorn leaves behind his wife Ann, who is a sergeant with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

“For somebody to take his life like that and he has family … he has children. It’s hard,” Vanissa Powell said of her father-in-law. “It’s really hard that we won’t physically see him again.”

Police have not made any arrests nor released any surveillance video. The shooting was broadcast on Facebook Live. The video has since been removed.

The boarded up pawn shop is now a growing memorial site. A sign is taped to the outside that reads, “Y’all killed a black man because they killed a black man? Rest in Peace.”
Dorn’s family is hopeful the shooter comes forward, but Brian Powell said his father would want them to practice forgiveness.

“My dad wouldn’t be mad, he’d try to give them another chance,” Brian Powell said.

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