Man pleads guilty to shooting St. Louis Cardinals fan

ST. LOUIS (AP) A St. Louis man pleaded guilty Tuesday to shooting a Cardinals fan after a baseball game last year, leaving the man paralyzed.

Kilwa Jones, 32, pleaded guilty Tuesday to five charges for shooting Christopher Sanna and robbing Sanna's girlfriend as they walked to their car in September on the grounds of the Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis. Jones faces 25 to 35 years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000 on each charge when he is sentenced Oct. 6.

Court documents indicate Jones confronted the couple and when they tried to ignore him and walk away, Jones shot Sanna in the back. He took the girlfriend's purse and rifled through Sanna's pants pockets as he lay on the ground, police said. Surveillance video showed Jones using Sanna's debit card after the robbery.

The shooting drew increased attention because it shortly before the St. Louis Cardinals' playoff appearance, raising concerns about fan safety at or near Busch Stadium.

Jones still faces charges of assault, robbery and armed criminal action related to the crime in St. Louis Circuit Court, and prosecutors have accused him of threatening a witness to stop her from responding to a subpoena and testifying before a grand jury, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported (http://bit.ly/29VdaN6 ). Jones also has pending charges of second-degree domestic assault and unlawful possession of a firearm in St. Louis County.

In 2006, he pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and first-degree assault in St. Louis County in two separate cases and received probation, shock time behind bars and house arrest. He later violated his probation and went to prison. He also was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to fraudulent use of a credit card in St. Louis.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com