Police investigating shooting, robbery outside Spruill's

A story published today on STLtoday.com says St. Louis police are investigating a shooting and robbery that took place outside Spruill's Lounge early this morning. The club, located on Jefferson Ave. west of downtown, is familiar to many local jazz fans for hosting saxophonist Willie Akins' long-running Saturday matinee shows.

The article written by reporter Carolyn Tuft says, in part:

"At 3:45 a.m. today, the 49-year-old owner of Spruill's Lounge at 1101 N. Jefferson Ave. was carrying a bag of money out to his car to make a deposit, police said.

Two men approached him, displayed guns and attempted to take the money bag. The owner struggled with them, police said. The suspects shot the owner in the elbow. The owner returned fire. The two suspects fled in a grey, older-model mini-van driven by a third suspect, police said.

Friends took the owner, whose name is not being released by police, to a hospital where he is listed in stable condition."

You can read the entire story online here.

UPDATE, 5:30 p.m., 12/9/09: The Riverfront Times has a story about the incident here.

(Edited after posting to fix some formatting problems.)