Tyler Gebhard, a former football star and an unnamed off duty police officer, who knew each other had gotten into an online argument about Black Lives Matter. The argument got heated and Gebhard made his way over to the officer’s home in Lakeshire, Missouri in St Louis County. Previously, Gebhard had posted threats to the officer and his family.
Once Gebhard got to the cops house, he picked up a 50 pound planter and threw it through the front window, while the wife of the cop, her mother in law and two kids tried to escape through the bedroom window. Gebhard then pushed his way into the house, .The officer confronted Gebhard and shot him, killing him on the spot.
Gebhard’s uncle supplied police with information that helped clarify what happened:
“He walked over there and into a gunfight. When he got there, he was met with a gun and the guy killed him.”
From The St Louis Post-Dispatch:
Brogan (Gebhard’s uncle) said Gebhard and the police officer he befriended at a local church had clashed recently on Facebook over his nephew’s support of Black Lives Matter.
Gebhard, who was biracial, supported the cause but was not an active participant in the protest movement, the uncle said.
His Facebook page contains numerous posts about police shootings of black men and the deaths of five officers in Dallas at the hands of a gunman targeting white officers. Some devolve into heated arguments and warnings of a “race war.” Some posts are conciliatory, calling for black and white people to come together. One shows an image of a candle burning for the fallen Dallas officers.
But an online disagreement over the issues brought Gebhard to the Lakeshire home shortly before 6 p.m.