A 34-year-old man leaving a St. Louis nightclub in midtown early this morning was walking to his friend's car when he heard gunshots.

He bent down to the ground to shield himself, police say, but when he stood up again, he felt a sharp pain.

He had been shot in the face.

Was this a random shooting?

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Baron Calmese, the piggy bank thief.

"Man, I bought a piece of ass and some heroin" was the incredibly charming response Baron Calmese allegedly gave police when they asked him last year why he stole money straight from his nephew's piggy bank.

Given that statement on record it's not a huge surprise that, many months later, Calmese, a 31-year-old Clayton man, formally pleaded guilty to the unbelievable offense of stealing hundreds of dollars from a four-year-old child.

Straight from the little boy's piggy bank!

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via KSDK

Firefighter investigates possible meth fire.

Police say that a 44-year-old man suffered burns on his face and chest from a fire over the weekend, which occurred in the basement kitchen of a boarding house in the Shaw neighborhood.

The victim, however, was "evasive" in detailing how he was burned, police say.

And that might be because the explosion was a meth lab mishap.

For starters, officials investigating the scene of the fire uncovered meth materials on site, police say.

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St. Peters Police

Kevin Flatley.

A naked man sitting in his car outside a library in St. Peters this week asked a teenage girl if she wanted a ride while he fondled himself.

That is according to St. Peters police officials who yesterday arrested Kevin Flatley, 49, two days after he allegedly decided it would be a good idea to sit nude in his car and talk to passersby in the parking lot of a library on Spencer Road.

After an investigation involving surveillance footage at the library and testimony from the victim, police located Flatley at his house and took him into custody, officials say.

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SLMPD

Stacy Davis, 29.

Police say that Stacy Davis, a 29-year-old St. Louis man, provided Carmen Cross, 30, with heroin and cocaine, which she combined into a cocktail and injected. After the first dose, she allegedly went comatose and was only revived after she took a cold shower and had a warm saline solution injected into her.

About one hour later, Davis -- who was present when the woman went comatose -- sold her more heroin and cocaine, police say.

Two days later, police found her body dumped in an alley on a trash heap, hidden under a flat-panel television.

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via

Update below: Two St. Louis parks officials allegedly stole around half a million dollars from the city by submitting false invoices since 2005, according to a federal indictment announced this morning.

Joseph Vacca, deputy commissioner of the St. Louis Parks Division, and Thomas Stritzel, chief of the St. Louis park rangers, are "expected to turn themselves in to authorities this week," according to the U.S. attorney's office.

"The city has moved forward to place both these men on immediate, forced, unpaid leave while we work through the disciplinary hearings," Maggie Crane, spokeswoman for Mayor Francis Slay, tells Daily RFT. "If the allegations are true, they deserve everything they get for betraying the public trust."

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via

Claire McCaskill.

This week, the United States Army announced that one of its sergeants in Fort Hood, Texas, is facing allegations of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates.

The accusations are especially damning because that sergeant worked in the sexual harassment and assault prevention and response program.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri who has been very vocal about this issue in recent weeks, has introduced legislation aimed at reforming the military justice system with new criteria for those who can serve in sexual assault prevention positions.

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via

Sooo...this is comforting.

Thieves stole approximately 100 pounds of explosives from a business in Troy this week, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the matter alongside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The federal agency is offering a $5,000 reward for any information leading to the prosecution of suspects in this case...presumably to incentivize folks to come forward if they have information about the 100 pounds of missing explosives in Missouri.

Officials say that the suspect or suspects removed two cases of explosives from the unnamed business near Highway H in Troy.

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via

Yesterday night, a 44-year-old father stopped at the St. Louis Community Credit Union on Forest Park Avenue to use the ATM, police say. He left his car running -- with his two-year-old baby son sleeping in the rear passenger seat.

As he was using the ATM around 11:30 p.m., a dark grey Chevy Impala pulled up alongside his, a passenger exited and jumped into his car.

Then he drove off on Forest Park Avenue with the baby inside. The Chevy Impala followed.

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Courtesy Robin Wheeler

Police on her yard.

Soon, it may be really easy to locate Belleville, Illinois, resident Robin Wheeler's house on Google Maps' "Street View." Just look for a handcuffed dude and some cops!

Wheeler was sitting on her porch in her pajamas yesterday morning minding her own business, when two cop cars stopped on her street -- and officers got out and apprehended a male suspect.

"They had him on the ground, handcuffed in my yard," she tells Daily RFT.

Then, a Google Street View car drove by.

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