St. Louis cop who fatally shot Katlyn Alix had played Russian roulette with previous girlfriends, lawsuit alleges
Oct 10, 2019
ST. LOUIS — The mother of St. Louis police Officer Katlyn Alix claims in a lawsuit that the fellow officer charged with killing Alix had a “complicated psychiatric history,” including forcing other girlfriends to play Russian roulette, and that the city should have known it before hiring him.
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Alix’s mother, Aimee L. Wahlers, filed a wrongful-death suit Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court against Hendren, Patrick Riordan, Gary Foster and the city of St. Louis. Riordan was Hendren’s partner on duty that night; he has not been charged with a crime. Foster was their sergeant
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Among the claims made in Wahlers’ lawsuit:
• Neighbors heard a “screaming fight” and a man and woman yelling before the shooting.
• Hendren forced other girlfriends to play Russian roulette and engage in other sexual activity that involved firearms.
• Prior to being hired by St. Louis as a police officer, Hendren had a “complicated psychiatric history” that included anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and “suicidal ideations and gestures.”
• Hendren, who has a military background, had, on occasion, put a loaded gun to his mouth and his head “when alone, just to feel something.”
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A police department spokesman, Sgt. Keith Barrett, said that, in general, the department has all applicants go through a psychiatric evaluation before being hired.
Alix’s family doesn’t know the full extent of Hendren’s psychiatric history because the police department has refused to turn over his disciplinary or employment files.
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The 46-page lawsuit gives a detailed account of what it claims led up to Alix’s shooting. It describes behavior of Hendren and Riordan, including drinking while on duty, being outside of their patrol zone, and skipping a burglary call —
allegations previously reported by the Post-Dispatch.
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“Officer Alix, who was off duty, was intoxicated and vulnerable,” the suit says.
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After the screaming heard by neighbors, Hendren pulled out his personal revolver and reportedly fired empty shots down a hallway, then put a single bullet into the gun and pointed it at Alix’s chest, the suit says. He fired the gun and the shot killed Alix, the suit says, claiming that Riordan saw it happen and failed to intervene.
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When they arrived at the hospital, the suit says, Alix was “for an unknown reason” naked from the hips up; her sports bra was pulled over her head.
The officers dragged “her lifeless body” into the emergency room at 1:22 a.m. on Jan. 24, the suit says. Outside the hospital, Hendren, a minute later, is seen slamming his head through the back windshield of Sgt. Foster’s police SUV.
