St. Louis Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Shootings and Carjacking

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a convicted felon who committed an armed 2018 carjacking, a 2021 shooting and two other crimes involving guns to 25 years in prison.

Darnell L. Clemons left a string of victims terrified and traumatized, according to testimony at Monday’s sentencing hearing.

On May 16, 2018, Darnell L. Clemons and a nephew robbed and carjacked the manager of a University City, Missouri restaurant. Clemons stole the victim’s 2015 Toyota Corolla, cash and her phone after placing the muzzle of a handgun to her forehead and stomach.

On July 29, 2021, Clemons’ nephew spotted a gun in a bag belonging to a customer at a Florissant, Missouri gas station and convenience store. The nephew tried to steal the gun, triggering a struggle. Clemons spotted the struggle, ran into the store and shot the victim in the back, resulting in permanent injury. He fired another shot from outside of the store.

On Aug. 4, 2021, following a shootout with unknown individuals in a car, Clemons jumped through a stranger’s window in the O’Fallon neighborhood in St. Louis. Police found a stolen 9mm pistol with the slide locked back and no ammunition, indicating that Clemons had fired it recently. Clemons initially gave his brother’s name to police and claimed that officers planted the gun they found. A witness saw Clemons with the gun and his fingerprint was on the pistol’s magazine, however.

On Dec. 8, 2021, Clemons was arrested on outstanding warrants by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s Fugitive Unit with the assistance of Homeland Security Investigations. After a foot chase through the Delmar Loop, officers found a 9mm Glock loaded with a large capacity drum magazine. Clemons again gave his brother’s name and falsely claimed that police had planted the gun. He later told police he “should have shot it out with you all” rather than surrendering, and threatened to kill an officer that he recognized, and that officer’s mother.

Clemons was a “one-man crime wave” for 20 years before that arrest, placing him in the highest criminal history category, according to a sentencing memo. That crime wave included a carjacking committed by Clemons and his nephew at a church and resisting-arrest convictions dating back to age 16. Clemons also “capped off months of domestic abuse by throwing his pregnant girlfriend through a table, causing her to miscarry his own child,” the memo says. He also shot her, the memo says. In a letter to Judge Autrey, Clemons’ former girlfriend said Clemons’ gun went off while he was pistol-whipping her on Mother’s Day. “Hurting people made you laugh, and that's where you found your joy in life,” she wrote in her letter. “To this day, I still deal with not feeling safe, not even when the police would come, because you have successfully broken into my house countless times. Not only are you my worst nightmare, but also the mother of a child's worst nightmare as well.”

“This was a career criminal with no regard for human life and demonstrated a willingness to terrorize communities with violence,” said Mark Zito, Special Agent in Charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Kansas City. “This is exactly the kind of dangerous offender HSI targets: armed, repeat violent criminals who think they can operate without consequence. Let this sentencing serve as a clear warning – if you prey on the public with guns and fear, we will find you, we will build the case, and we will make sure you face the full weight of the justice system.”

Clemons, 38, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in January in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of carjacking, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the University City Police Department, the Florissant Police Department and the St. Louis County Crime Lab investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary Bluestone and Matthew Martin prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.