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STL Today
December 9, 2014
Shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday, Billie Wilson slipped on a jacket and said her goodbyes at Pooh’s Corner tavern in the Carondelet neighborhood.
Then, the front door swung open and three men barged in.
“The guy in front held up a black pistol and yelled, ‘Get down,’” Wilson, 49, said Saturday, trembling as she recounted the experience.
Then the shooting started.
Wilson’s friend Diana Lawrence, 63, was shot in the back of the head as the robbery attempt turned into a gunfight.
Lawrence died on Wednesday.
A former city police officer who shot one of the robbers was among five wounded in the melee.
Two of the wounded were trying to hold up the bar at 6023 Virginia Avenue that has been a hangout for off-duty and retired cops for decades.
Prosecutors charged Derreaun Davis, 20, of the 5700 block of Goodfellow Boulevard, and Corey R. Wade, 29, of the 4500 block of Davison Avenue, with assault, robbery and armed criminal action.
Charges are expected to be upgraded to murder. A judge ordered them held without bail.
Davis was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Wade was hospitalized in critical condition. A third suspect is being sought.
On Saturday afternoon, the bar played host to a fundraiser to pay for Lawrence’s funeral and burial.
Bar owner Leonard “Skippy” King turned a chair upside down and set it on top of the second table on the left to mark Lawrence’s usual seat.
Patrons filled it with mementos, including a snowman to mark the victim’s love of Christmas, a light beer and a shot of root beer schnapps, her favorite drink.
A sister, Mary Kay Rapa, 48, of Florissant, recalled Lawrence as a cheerful woman who easily made friends.
“The men who did this killed a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and a friend to so many people,” Rapa said.
A granddaughter, Kristin Lombardo, 22, recalled warning Lawrence to steer clear of the bar.
