Tourists not put off by carjacking death over the weekend

ST. LOUIS -- Sherry Hoffman isn't letting a fatal carjacking attempt over the weekend ruin her view of the Gateway Arch.

The 59-year-old North Carolina tourist, on a swing through eastern Missouri, said she's used to such crimes at home.

"It doesn't put a damper on our visit," she says. "Maybe I'm too stupid to be afraid."

The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Bureau says the shooting incident early Sunday that killed one Indianapolis man and wounded another has not sullied the city's good image or prompted phone calls from people backing out of travel plans.

Travel agents in Indianapolis, home of the carjack victims, said St. Louis remains a popular business and weekend destination for Hoosiers. Sunday's tragedy got local press coverage but was eclipsed by news of other world events, Ross & Babcock travel agent Peter Jamison said.

About 17 million visitors each year still want to shop, see the Arch, visit the city's historic neighborhoods and dine at ethnic restaurants, St. Louis Convention and Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Nancy Milton said. She visited New York long before former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani cleaned up Times Square and other high-crime areas, she said, and suspects that tourists to St. Louis feel the same way about crime here.

"I went because I wanted to go," Milton said. "People understand crime can happen anyplace. I wish it hadn't happened here."

Before daybreak Sunday on a lonely city street, police said, a carload of young St. Louis men cornered a sport utility vehicle filled with seven members of an extended Indianapolis family.

Prompted only by a desire for the SUV's pricey wheel rims, the carjackers fatally shot Gerardo Perez, 26, seriously wounded driver Jose Luis Perez, 30, and hurt other passengers in the 1998 Chevrolet Tahoe.

In the past six months, 150 vehicles have been stolen by force in St. Louis, usually by the robber displaying a gun. An armed robbery of a vehicle resulting in death is far more rare.

St. Louis Police spokesman Richard Wilkes could recall only one other this year.

"It gets so much attention, it makes you think it goes on a lot," he said.