Police probe shooting of ice cream truck driver

ST. LOUIS -- Investigators continued to search Tuesday for the gunman who shot and robbed a man driving an ice cream truck.

The victim, a 22-year-old immigrant from Lithuania, remained in critical, but stable condition Tuesday in the intensive care unit of a local hospital, said St. Louis County police spokesman Mason Keller.

Authorities said the victim was driving his Frosty Treats truck at about 8 p.m. Saturday in the Glasgow Village area.

The suspect shot the victim several times in the head and torso, police said. The suspect drove to St. Louis and took the bleeding man's money, wallet and cell phone, then abandoned the truck, investigators said.

The victim, whose name has not been released by police, managed to drive to a nearby gas station and summon help, police said.

Greg Sloan, a manager for the Kansas City-based ice cream company, said he believed the gunman had gotten away with about $200. "It's such a small amount of money. It's such a horrendous person that's out there," he said.

Sloan said the company was already discussing ways to make the trucks more difficult to enter, and said the trucks do not stay out late at night. "It hasn't ever happened before, but we don't want it to happen again."

Sloan said the victim began selling ice cream three weeks ago. He said he believed the man's family had been notified overseas, but didn't think the man had relatives in the St. Louis area. He said the man wanted "just to work and to see America."

"He just wanted to make some money and send some money back home," Sloan said.

The Frosty Treats trucks are something of a summertime fixture in the St. Louis area. The company operates the ice cream trucks in eight cities, and has about 60 trucks around St. Louis.