By Patrick M. O’Connell, Elizabethe Holland and Kim Bell
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — City firefighter Leonard Riggins made certain the American flag was suspended perfectly, respectfully, from two ladder trucks as part of the funeral Tuesday morning for a slain University City police sergeant.
Flag detail at funerals for public servants killed in the line of duty was part of Riggins’ responsibility, fellow firefighters said, that he approached with great pride and attention to detail.
The day after Sgt. Michael King was laid to rest, yet another funeral for a slain public servant needed planning, yet another flag detail needed to be arranged.
This time, it was for Riggins.
A 15-year veteran of the St. Louis Fire Department, Riggins stopped at the scene of a car wreck Wednesday evening, and was shot by a 19-year-old carjacker and left dying in the street.
Minutes later, the gunman — identified by police Thursday as Christopher L. Brandon of St. Louis — fired at St. Louis County officers, who returned fire and killed him.
Riggins, 52, died later at a hospital from a gunshot wound to the chest, leaving behind a wife and two sons.
Police said Thursday that Brandon began Wednesday’s series of crimes in south St. Louis, where he stole a car that he drove to the Glasgow Village area, where subsequent carjackings and the shootings occurred.
Brandon had a long rap sheet, police said, with arrests in numerous cases, including some involving car theft, resisting arrest and even murder in St. Louis. Police provided no further details, and Missouri court records show no cases connected to Brandon.
Police said they did not know if Brandon was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and that it will be weeks before toxicology reports are completed.
Brandon dropped out of Beaumont High School in St. Louis and was attending a trade school, according to a woman who said she was Brandon’s aunt. The woman, who declined to give her name, said she learned of the crime when police told relatives Thursday afternoon. Brandon’s parents are dead, the aunt said.
She said she didn’t know why Brandon would be in the Glasgow Village area.
The aunt had no explanation for what happened; she said other family members had said Brandon was happy that morning.
“I feel bad for both sides,” she said.
A series of crimes
Police said Brandon had crashed a stolen vehicle at Spring Garden and Perthshire drives, and carjacked another at gunpoint from a family outside their home nearby. He wrecked their car at Spring Garden and Dudley drives, where Riggins, who lived nearby, came across it on his way home.
Riggins, in a navy blue uniform and badge, was shot in the chest after approaching the car, officials said. They believe Brandon may have mistaken him for a police officer.
Brandon fled in Riggins’ fire department car, and crashed it a few blocks away, at Spring Garden and Riverview Drive. County officers responding to a 911 call there found him trying to carjack yet another vehicle, and killed him in an exchange of shots. Nobody else was hurt.
On Thursday morning, Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said Riggins was a military veteran who began working for the city’s parks department in 1977, and was appointed to the fire department on June 1, 1993.
The chief said the killing is classified as a line-of-duty death because, “Leonard was on call at all times.” He said firefighters always have “a duty to act” in an emergency.
Riggins was doing “what he’d been trained to do, what he was best at,” the chief said.
“Leonard was a guy who would help anybody, at any time, anywhere and never ask a question,” Jenkerson said. “He was the go-to guy. He was always there. Leonard was the perfect image of our fire department.”
Riggins, known for his carefully starched and pressed uniform and happy disposition, worked at department headquarters. His duties included supplying uniforms and equipment, and overseeing flag details at parades and funerals. That also meant arranging the flag display and lines of firefighters for the arrival of fallen soldiers at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
“He had a lot of pride in that because he said it was for the family,” said Steve Reynolds, a friend and co-worker. “He’d say, ‘You’re not doing this for me, you’re doing it for the family.’ ... He was always looking out for somebody else.”
Riggins was also a minister, a role that spilled over to his fire department job, said Capt. Michael Richardson. Riggins’ supply job gave him the opportunity to know — and sometimes counsel — nearly everyone in the department.
“He was proud of his role there, but I think he was more proud that he was able to help firefighters and people who were going through hard times in their lives,” Richardson said. “Leonard was the spark that a lot of them needed to know that (the hard times) were just a bump in the road.”
What mattered most to Riggins was his family, his co-workers said. He is survived by his wife, Donita Riggins; and two sons, Antwan Banks, 35, and Leonard Riggins Jr., 19.
“Family was important to him, his marriage was important to him,” said firefighter Raynard Jones.
Said Reynolds: “He talked about second, third, fourth honeymoons with his wife. He was a very dedicated husband.”
A final tribute
The day before the shootings, Riggins delivered a 30 foot-by-50 foot flag to Delmar and Big Bend boulevards, where he then made certain it was suspended evenly from two ladder trucks as part of Sgt. King’s funeral.
Sometime next week — no funeral date was yet set — someone will do the same for him.
“We’ve got to give Leonard what he would have given anybody else — plus,” Jones said. “It’s got to be a step above what Leonard would have done for anybody. That’s because of who he was and what he’s done. He wanted everything perfect, so we’ve got to make sure this is perfect for him.”