Potential breakthroughs in Colin Brown fatal shooting investigation

ST. LOUIS – A FOX 2 News exclusive report reveals potential breakthroughs in the investigation into the shooting death of high school hockey player Colin Brown.

FOX 2 obtained video from what has been a hotbed of police activity near the shooting scene in South St. Louis.

The video, taken six days after the shooting, shows one man in handcuffs on Minnesota Avenue with police SWAT members and undercover officers swarming the block. That same block of Minnesota ends at the same part of Interstate 55 where an errant gunshot struck Brown on Nov. 23. The CBC High School junior was heading home with his dad following a hockey game.

Neighbors say investigators were back on the block Thursday morning.

The FBI confirms agents were present Thursday, conducting "court-authorized activity."

Two men have been charged with drug and/or weapons offenses in the Minnesota Avenue case. The police chief wouldn’t share details but confirmed the investigation is progressing.

“It's moving along,” St. Louis Police Chief Robert Tracy said. “You've seen the reward that's out there through CrimeStoppers. Everything matters. Really, really good work … our detectives, like on every homicide case, are working day and night, leaving no stone unturned to try to bring this person that did the shooting to justice.”

That person has not yet been arrested, police said.

However, court documents reveal the drug case may be connected to the shooting:

• during a separate pending investigation, "homicide detectives interviewed both co-defendants" in the Minnesota Avenue case
• on Nov. 23, the night of the shooting, the two went into downtown St. Louis to buy cocaine
• they went back to a house on Minnesota to distribute the cocaine they had just obtained

Police won't say how any of it might tie into the Colin Brown case.

“I'd rather leave the details [out],” Tracy said. “I don't want to compromise this case with the hard work our detectives are doing and make sure we can bring justice and bring this criminal in, and bring some closure to this family, whatever closure you can bring to losing a 16-year-old son and brother.”

One the suspects in the Minnesota Avenue drug case is free on bond and under house arrest with electronic monitoring, according to court documents.