Man killed by St. Louis police may have sought death

ST. LOUIS -- A man killed by police officers in downtown St. Louis after he struck a police car and fired at officers may have wanted to die, police said this weekend.

The man who died Friday was Mohammad Khaled Alwadi, 21, a Jordanian immigrant who had been in the United States less than a month.

Family members told police he had spoken of committing suicide, according to the St. Louis Police Department.

Police told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Alwadi told his father on Thursday he had a premonition he was going to die the next day. He took his father's .45-caliber pistol from the liquor store his father runs in East St. Louis.

Alwadi deliberately rammed his Dodge Intrepid into a police car in downtown St. Louis, police said, causing serious leg injuries to the officer. Alwadi fired several shots and hit the car but not the officer, who fired back. Alwadi also fired at another officer who arrived on scene, police said.

Then, Alwadi ran and fired three or four times at a third officer in a patrol car. He encountered several more officers, who fired, killing him, police said.

Police said seven police officers fired at Alwadi.