Show-Me State Times

A convicted felon from St. Louis, Missouri, admitted on Tuesday to being caught by police with a stolen gun after fleeing from a carjacked vehicle.

Cedric Cross Sr., 42, pleaded guilty to one felony count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He acknowledged that on January 30, 2022, he was apprehended by Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers while armed after jumping out of a carjacked truck. Cross was the passenger, and the driver had led police on a high-speed chase before crashing. Cross’ gun was confirmed to be stolen. He denied being one of two armed men who carjacked the truck earlier that evening at the intersection of Marcus Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive.

In his plea agreement, Cross also disputed shooting an acquaintance in the Walnut Park West neighborhood of St. Louis the day before the carjacking. The victim alleged that after an argument, Cross pulled out a gun and started shooting, hitting her four times. Ballistics evidence from the shooting matched the handgun found with Cross the next day.

Cross is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday, May 28th, 2024. He potentially faces additional prison time for violating his supervised release from a prior felon in possession case in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis. In 2017, he was sentenced there to 63 months in prison after being caught with a stolen .38-caliber revolver.

The case was investigated by the Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Hoag is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and communities to reduce violent crime and gun violence and make neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring results.