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Megan Boken, 23, was shot and killed in her car while she was visiting St. Louis Saturday.
Police in St. Louis are investigating the fatal shooting of a 23-year-old Chicago woman, who was killed Saturday.
Officials say 23-year-old Megan Boken was found at about 2:20 p.m. in her parked car Saturday near an intersection in the Central West End of St. Louis with gunshot wounds to her chest and neck.
Witnesses told police Boken was sitting in her Volkswagen outside of her former residence in St. Louis.
Witnesses told police they saw a man either get out of Boken’s Volkswagen or open the door to the vehicle. The two appeared to be arguing, and then the man fired shots into the car. She was shot in the neck and chest and later pronounced dead at Barnes Jewish Hospital.
Police said they have no evidence that Boken knew her killer, who fled the scene on foot before police arrived. Police are reviewing street surveillance video hoping to find a lead on the gunman, David Marzullo, Director of Public Information at the St. Louis Police Department told NBC News.
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Police have not released a motive in the shooting but are investigating the case as a homicide. The suspect was described as a black man believed to be in his mid-20s, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with a thin build and short hair. No arrests have been made.
Boken was a four-year volleyball player and 2011 graduate of St. Louis University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing, the university said in a press release. She was living in the Chicago area but was in St. Louis to play in an alumni volleyball game on Saturday. The incident occurred less than two hours before the game.
“Megan was a wonderful and beautiful human being loved by everyone she met,” Boken’s aunt Mary Pataki said in a statement on behalf of her family. “The family and the community are devastated by this senseless tragedy. And the family would like to thank everyone for their outpouring of support.”
Also mourning the loss of Boken was SLU's athletic director Chris May, who told the Chicago Tribune that although players noticed she wasn't at the game, nobody knew what had happened to the standout student until the game was over.
“Megan was one of those vibrant student athletes who participated,” May said. “She was a volleyball student athlete in business school. [She] was one of those great young women who believed in everything that St. Louis University was about. She served the community and she’ll be sorely missed for sure.”
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Olympic volleyball athlete Misty May-Treanor posted to her Facebook Sunday: “My heart and prayers go out to one of my favorite families ever The Boken’s. I am sorry for your loss. Please know that I am thinking of you all during this difficult time. Megan may you rest in peace. Love you all!”
Boken’s young sister commented on her post Sunday: “this made my day. i’m megan’s sister, and we spent some of our last time together watching you play in the olympics. thanks for the support!”
According to her LinkedIn profile, Boken was a financial Advisor at Edward Jones in Wheaton, Ill., from September 2011 through June 2012. Before attending SLU, she went to St. Francis High School in Wheaton.
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Leave a Comment:
My heart is in anguish for the family. As a parent of a 23 year old, I can not imagine the pain the family has because of this tragic loss. I pray that they are blessed with comfort.
I am also a parent of a 23 yr old (boy) and 16 year old (girl) I couldn't imagine something like this happening to either one of them.
R.I.P. Megan. You're in a better place now.
A lovely young woman taken from, this world for what I am sure is no real reason. For those who want to make this about race, grow up. This is about the human race acting out towards the human race, selfish and evil..Plain and simple. Either we get above this childish "race card" played out through the media one too many times or we all are nothing more the animals we claim to be above.
Creek Dog, she's not in a better place now, or else we'd all go there. This story was horrendous. I hope they catch this guy and execute him too. We'll tell him he's going to a better place = off the face of this earth.
Really creek dog, I wouldn't have thought you be that old. But this is tragedy is one reason to teach our kids to not make friends or date with just anybody.
hope they find the gutless "BLACK" boy and put him to death...what a waste of a white girl who hoped to make a difference in this screwed up country...not trying to be racist but they showed her picture and said he was black.....heart goes out to her parents..
...And what exactly does race have to do with this?
Mike - The world would be a better place if you ran into someone just like him....
Ghetto trash with a gun? What a shocker. They should skin him.
This is just the city's upstanding black community at work once again.. what a worthless lot. Don't like the fact that I'm racist? Methinks Megan here might have similar feelings as I do about negroes were she still alive.
Do other races cause havoc and participate in violent crime in STL? Absolutely. All of them do on some level or another, but I can tell you the race most often flashed on screen in mug shot form on the nightly news..
Obama, Jackson, & Sharpton. 3 people who will not comment on this tragic death.
Elektro, I'm a fellow St. Louisan and agree with you somewhat...but methinks that Megan was just another good suburban white girl who got to college and started messing around with the forbidden fruit, but didn't have enough sense to date a fellow college student and instead just found some street thug. Probably because that was more exciting and sexy to her than dating a "safe" guy. My heart goes out to her and her family, but if you play with fire like so many white suburban girls seem to do now, you're going to get burned.
Elektro - that's funny, as I think you are only reading one section of the news. You can use your statistics to perpetuate the stereotype that only black Americans commit violent crimes, but I've read several stories on this very site in the past week about white women and men who have abused their children, physically and also with sexual intent. I have also read in the last few years about several white guys who have either threatened to shoot up a school or public area, or who actually have (Aurora.. Arizona.. school after school). Before you assume otherwise, I am a white female in my late 20's, and have no problem admitting that this country is full of sick individuals, but know that they come in all colors, genders, and religions, so you are just kidding yourself if you and the rest of these ignorant posters think the heinous crimes we read about are coming from just one group of people.
Nowhere did I say that ONLY blacks commit these kinds of crimes. Please read before commenting. "Several stories" IS NOT the same as black face after black face after black face in mug shot after mug shot. Screw PC. The black community needs to look after itself or live with the stererotype. These thugs want to keep ruining our city? Fine.. but I AM GOING TO CALL IT AS IT IS.
Very tragic & senseless. It is a shame a young promising life was cut short in this way. My condolences to her family.
Welcome to Obama's Chicago.
Mathuin you aren't the smartest person are you? Did you ever read the article? Although I am not a fan of Obama's it didn't happen in Chicago, it happened in St. Louis. Now go spread your foolishness somewhere else. My heart felt condolences go out to the family.
More like welcome to gun-crazed USA.
A few more details on CBS.
Paging Reverend Sharpton....Oh wait...Wrong person killed
...
Al and Jesse are on their way to console the family - OF THE SHOOTER.
...
Nothing - I don't like Sharpton or Jackson, but to say something like what you did is so very stupid. You should have told the family that you were sorry for their loss, but no you couldn't do that. As for me, I would like to extend my condolences for you loss. It will be hard, but you will get through it.
You're right. Those two clowns probably are doing just that.
Funny, I don't hear these two defending the shooter...but what I do see are two idiotic whites wishing that Al and Jesse would come to the rescue just to "prove" that they're racist. Geez, that would make you just as sick as the shooter.
Still nothing new there......................
Completely agree with you Michael. There are some bitter people on this site who want to make everything an issue about racism when in fact they seem to be the real racists here. Until there exist facts stating that this was a racially-motivated crime, let's just give the family of the victim our sympathy, and mourn the loss of a bright young girl whose life was taken too early.
Good job, NRA.
...
You are so correct.
The only time the shooter is at fault is when the shooter is white.
Otherwise it is definitely the gun.
...
a rally and march for the poor black child who shot this girl is only right and proper, it seems
after all, she probably "disrespected" him by not allowing him to take her car and whatever else he demanded; therefore, according to the unwritten "Law of the Hood" - it was time to pull out a gun and start shooting
....old people, women, children or fellow thugs....all are fair game to these brave hoodlums with guns
Right, cause the only NRA members are gang bangers and thugs.............Gosh you guys are so smart to uncover that conspiracy.
His point being, that relaxing gun laws makes them more accessible in general. I know it's so hard for half the commentators on here to read through the red pall that descends over their eyes when there's inter-racial crime but...
Condolences to the family in another senseless gun crime...
a
idiot...
Shouldn't this be labeled a hate crime? Definitely would be if it were the other way around. I hope they find the coward soon and condolences to the family.
Definitely wouldn't. Not everyone is as racist as you appear to be.
Sorry sam adams not any black person is a racist when a crime is committed against a white person because it is the white persons fault it was committed against them because we made them do it some how we put the crack pipes in their hands we put the needles in there hands, we take the books out of there hands, we make them sleep with their women and leave them with the children fatherless we put the guns in their hands, we stop them from creating there own business we stop them from learning. That sam is a crime, that they still blame a person's color for what they do.
I don't apologise, I am tired of hearing it all the time. Yes I know there are still racist, on both side, don't kid yourself Al and Jessie are to of the biggest, they hold there racist down they don't help pick them up they just point a finger.
Hate crime!
packinp40
Not with Eric in charge.
"Shouldn't this be labeled a hate crime?"
So are classifying this under hating Volkswagen drivers then?
Such a waste! So beautiful and young. May the culprit be caught and brutalized in prison.
Racist? I'm just stating the fact lipps. Tell me 1 reason why it wouldn't be?
It would only be a hate crime if there was discriminatory intent. It's not a hate crime every time the victim and the perpetrator are of different races, ethnicities, religions, etc. The official definition of a hate crime is: A crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence. It may very well be that there was hate motivation, but untill you know a motive, we cannot assume.
Hate crime classification is stupid. Crime is crime, does it matter what the motivation might be? I'm sure the guy didn't love her, therefore he hated her enough to kill her. Whoever came up with hate crime, anyway?
It's more heart wrenching to know that someone who was hard working and devoted to making a good life for herself was gunned down by someone who didn't care about his or that of others.
Most white girls while in their quest for the black long snake don't realise the danger they put themselfs in. Fact is most white men wont want nothing to do with them when they find out they had been with a black as their viewed as having been tampered with.
7.62 - You numb nutted SOB. If you can't say something nice about the young woman, STFU. Undoubtedly have nothing to be proud of. How dare you say she was looking to have a good time. Stay off the board unless you can have something good to say!!!!!
7.62
I was going to say that this is what happens if you go black. Blacks are very possessive of their "trophy" white girls.
What's the saying, "once you go black you won't go back"? The reality is that once you go black they won't let you back, and we don't want them back.
Oops, my bad I must have stumbled onto the kkk thread for this article.
Yeah, nothing makes you haters more mad than when you think your sister is cheating on you with a BLACK guy...again
And this is national news?
no wander everyone is fraid in this country now days. An isolated incident trumped to a national news item.
I feel for the family, but randum stuff does happen to regular people.
It's news because she lives in Chicago but was shot somewhere else. What are the odds?
...@MUG: LOL!
Isolated Incident, i don't think so. It happens all the time, everyday somewhere next to you. Oh yes and it seems to be getting worse. Home invations are all the time now, shooting inocent people on the street corner, robbing banks, liquior stores, friends!! The mentality of the robbers and shooters seems to be just a so what you have it and i want it attitude. The newsmedia just reports it with little detail, and we go on waiting for the next shooting. The criminal justice systems seems broken, no real punishment that means anything anymore. They'll spend a little more time in jail, that's ok, they've been there before, no big deal, what's a death. Shoot'em with my illegal gun, steal there money, their dead! Who's next?
Its because she was a wonderful person, an outstanding athlete and Misty May-Treanor, an olympic gold medalist beach volleyball player, sent out her condolences on her facebook/twitter. A young woman murdered for no reason and most likely no justice will be brought. Add the fact that guns are all the rage right now in politics after all of these killing sprees/murders and this horrible story becomes national news. RIP Megan, SLU will never forget you!
Exactly right, my friend
However, just don't dare try to defend yourself against one of these thugs or you might to have to face Al, Jesse and the rest of the black community - not to mention President Obama, the staff of MSNBC, the Ed show, Nancy Grace, et. al.
I think you guys got it all wrong, it was a man dress in black. Not a black man. Oh well, what difference does it make with you geniuses. Even if I was just messing, you be up in arms about race.
...
This will be out of the news on MSNBC very quickly - just as was the case with the elderly white man killed by a black man in Florida or;
The two white Canadian women slashed to death in Washington D.C. by a black woman or;
The two white motorists shot randomly by a black man in Alabama.
However, Trayvon ? That episode is dug up at will.
Is there a discernible pattern here?
Perish the thought.
...
...Hey, @nothing: You are out of line! ...Haven't you heard that, until November, Blacks are to be referred to as "The Presidential Race"?
One slight flaw in your rant. The two Canadian women were (at least part) Asian.
Another victim in the NRA world of "everyone deserves a gun" or "you aint nobody until you got a gun"...maybe repubs do believe in overpopulation and they just think abortion and birth control are too boring ways to deal with it, letting those embryos grow to full adulthood and shooting them either with purpose or randomly is their preffered population control. Just start tallying how many dems get blown away per year versus repubs and we will know their plan for sure if it is a lot more dems (plan section 10 of the many sections in the repub control the vote and world playbook).
...@Big: I strongly doubt that the shooter purchased his gun legally, through an NRA-endorsed dealer.
Lol...
Arm everybody with a gun and train them how to use it. Switzterland does and they have the lowest crime rate on the planet. Just think they hop in your car at the stop light pull a gun to rob you, you pull your gun and shoot them first. Crime problem taken care of. Self defense!
You must be on some kind of drugs, my friend; this is not the NRA's fault, by any means
I believe if this girl had had a gun and was trained and ready to use it, the outcome of this might by very different for the young black male who assaulted this poor child
...however, she might have had to face Al, Jesse, the New Black Panter Party and Spike Lee to explain her actions
robb, you can't force anyone to carry a gun no matter how much you folks would like to. I've lived in STL my entire life and have never owned a gun, nor do I plan on buying one. I have no problem with people who want them for themselves, but I don't feel the need. If I'm that scared of being killed then I may as well become a hermit who never leaves the house, because the chances of being killed in a car wreck are a helluva lot greater than dying at the hands of some nutjob.
who wants to force someone to carry a gun?
Sounds like what a gang member would require of his fellow thugs - but not me.
I believe if this girl had had a gun and was trained and ready to use it
But you're assuming she'd want to carry a gun robb, that was my point. Not everyone does, that's my point, so your argument is pretty weightless unless you knew her personally and knew for fact that she wanted to carry a gun. Besides, C and C is legal in Missouri.
"Police have not released a motive in the shooting but are investigating the case as a homicide. The suspect was described as a black man believed to be in his mid-20s, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with a thin build and short hair. No arrests have been made."
Poor girl. She found out the hard way St. Louis is now even worse than Chicago. Maybe Jesse and Al will make an appearance but probably not.
I keeps tellin ya...no gun problem. keep believing it..no problems. none are youa zombie yet? no gun problems...
Gee... and I thought a bigot like you would just come out and say its all Whitey's fault and she deserved it, or are you saving that in case the perp is arrested?
Gramps forgot to take his meds this morning. When he does that, he just mumbles gibberish.
I heard a quote the other morning...."when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."
Seems to me that is the case now. Gun laws are only in place for people to buy them legally. Everyone already knows you can get one anywhere else. Blasting or criticizing the NRA for this crime makes absolutely no sense.
Ironic she lived in Chi-Town but was murdered in St. Louie.....
Really, Barney Fife.....
What a waste for beautiful person to be murder. I hope the police catch the animal and pump their bullets to that scum low life and hang him upside down.
Well.............Duh...
White girl....black guy...what a f'n surprise!!!!??? When will u white girls WAKE UP!!!!!!! This is why one of the reasons the white man is becoming a minority in this country.
Maybe if the white man knew how to treat women he wouldn't be a minority in this country. But then again, since black men are "inferior" you shouldn't have anything to worry about, right?
Michael-412302
So shooting is the "right" way to treat a woman?
you must not be referring to the 27 black men who gang-raped a seven year-old girl at a Trenton, NJ public housing complex back in April 2010
Must be scary being a white dude. But why would white dudes care anyways, aren't they more interested in little boys.
Oh please... this isn't about race. anyone can refer back to many crazy crimes involving a white man. Some ppl just hear what they want. Your comments are so ignorant I can't help but laugh.