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In the city of St. Louis, there have been a total of 30 murders reported this year so far and April kicked off with two violent homicides that claimed the lives of local women.

In addition to some incidents of particularly violent crime, in the St. Louis metro area, there was also a handful of truly absurd alleged criminal acts -- everything from drunk showering in the wrong home to bizarre news station harassment to an angry handyman's hammer attack.

Check out our summaries below of the most violent -- and the most strange -- local crime stories of the last 30 days.

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Preston Freeman, shooting victim.

In the city of St. Louis, there have been 27 homicides so far this year and the month of March was no stranger to gun violence.

But in the metro area, in addition to a string of violent crimes, there have also been some notably bizarre criminal acts -- the you-can't-make-this-stuff-up kind of news reports, everything from a really hungry ice cream thief to a fake penis user.

Check out our round-up below of the top worst crimes in St. Louis over the last thirty days.

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What could go wrong?

Today is April Fools' Day, the horrible day each year when it's socially acceptable to deceive people and do mean things. But in Missouri, folks don't just wait for April 1 to pull their pranks. They do it year round!

Which is why we thought -- as a cautionary list, perhaps -- we'd take a look back at some of the worst Missouri pranks gone very horribly wrong. From swallowed urine to knives in butts to resignations, suspensions, arrests and more, we've got for you below the worst Missouri pranks-turned-not-so-funny in recent memory.

Lessons to be learned below! (Spoiler alert: If your prank could send you to jail or lead to a stream of headlines calling you racist, rethink your plan.)

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Sometimes it takes an event like Wizard World Comic Con to prove that "nerd" doesn't necessarily mean "dork" nowadays.

Tens of thousands of people swarmed the America's Center this weekend for St. Louis' first-ever Comic Con, a three-day event celebrating pop culture and science fiction. The event -- in which both hardcore nerds and casual fans interact with high-profile actors, artists and writers -- was so popular that Wizard World has already announced plans to return in 2014, with AMC's The Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker confirmed to appear.

"The response from St. Louis has been overwhelming," says Jerry Milani, PR manager for Wizard World. "Wizard World was immediately embraced by the fans and the city. The costume contest last night was off-the-charts unbelievable and already rivals the participation we've had in cities where we've held events for years."

Below, we share A-to-Z highlights of the Lou's new favorite convention. Because of St. Louis' high turnout, we're now assuming you know your Harry Potter spells and X-Men origins, unlike in last week's non-nerd guide to the event. Try to keep up.

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Kansas City

We've gotten a lot of response over the last week to our "St. Louis Rules, Kansas City Drools" post -- RFT's rebuttal to a Kansas City Star column arguing that Kansas City is superior to St. Louis and that our city is declining while their city is rising.

In case you missed it, check out our response to KC Star columnist Yael T. Abouhalkah.

And for your reading pleasure below, we've chosen our top favorite responses from readers, many with their own suggestions about why Kansas City or St. Louis is more or less of a sucky city.

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This week, St. Louis County police charged a Fenton woman who allegedly walked into a smoke shop with a knife, asked for cash -- and then settled on a measly $7.50 in tip jar coins. Not really worth all the trouble, if you ask us. But the bizarre incident got us thinking about the craziest bandits in the area -- the ones who wear costumes, the ones who do a really bad job and the ones who just won't give up until they're caught.

From Spider-Man to the Granddad Bandit, the stories in Daily RFT's crime archive offer a large supply of strange bandits, and we've assembled below the top ten weirdest ones from recent years.

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Lucy, age three.

Last week, footage of Transportation Security Administration officials at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport trying to pat down a three-year-old girl in a wheelchair went viral -- and brought national attention to TSA in St. Louis. Nathan Forck, the father trying to get his family to Disney World, told Daily RFT that he just wanted to expose the TSA and their violations.

He's been pretty successful with that goal; TSA has since apologized and said that some protocols were not properly followed in St. Louis.

In honor of the national media Lambert TSA is receiving, we decided to collect the top TSA groping scandals and airport security fights in recent years. How does the Missouri scandal compare to others across the country? Check out the videos below.

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In case you missed it, Missouri is, yet again, number one in the nation for meth lab busts, new data shows. This is not much of a surprise to law enforcement officials in the state who deal with this every day -- especially those in Jefferson County, which has the second highest concentration of meth labs in the country.

In honor of Missouri's prestigious title, we thought we'd take a look back at some of the top craziest meth-related crimes in the state in recent memory.

And with methamphetamine, there's a lot of competition -- and very few happy endings. Check out our list below.

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A semi-NSFW Harlem Shake. Videos below.

We can't ignore it any longer. The Harlem Shake has officially gone viral. This video dance meme trend thingy is so viral that folks all over Missouri have been jumping on the fad in hopes of achieving some true virality here. In support of these attempts -- and some have a lot of views already! -- we've collected the top ten Harlem Shake videos made in Missouri. Shockingly, there were quite a few more to choose from.

Check out our favorite locally produced, thirty-second dance videos below.

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See ya later, Benedict.

Yes, it may be a bit self-centered of us to think, as soon as we heard the news yesterday of Pope Benedict XVI's impending resignation, which St. Louisan should replace him? But really, isn't it high time there was a Pope from the Western Hemisphere? And why not from St. Louis, the most Catholic of cities, named for a great French king/saint/Crusader, where its citizens are defined for life by which Catholic high school they attended, where fish fries are a reliable source of late-winter entertainment?

Here, then, are a few humble suggestions for St. Louisans to serve as the next Pope and speculation as to how they would reign.

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