Sister Gives Tearful Live-TV Plea Before Brother Dies in St. Louis Standoff

The sister of a now-deceased gunman suspected of shooting two U.S. Marshals and a police officer in St. Louis was captured on local TV giving a passionate, impromptu plea for the suspect not to make good on a promise to "[go] out in a body bag." The tearful plea included an allusion to the suspect and the sister surviving a roll-over accident together, with the sister begging the man and reminding him that "God gave us another chance":

The plea, however, may have not been enough.

St. Louis police confirmed in a statement that a "male suspect is deceased." The brief statement did not explain who the man was or how he was killed, however KTVI-TV reports it was a gunshot wound. It is unclear if the man was killed by police or killed himself.

Talking to reporters outside the house, however, Sannita Vaughan said her brother was the dead suspect who had been holed up inside.

"All we know is, they killed him," Vaughan said as relatives tried to shield her from the media crush.

The two U.S. marshals and a police officer had been serving an arrest warrant at the house on the city's south side when a gunfight broke out, according to Jeff Carter, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service.

One U.S. marshal is in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit at Saint Louis University Hospital, spokeswoman Laura Keller said. He was shat in the head. The other is in fair condition and is undergoing surgery after being hit in the ankle.

She did not provide the officers' identities.

A St. Louis police officer was hit in his bullet-proof vest and suffered a graze wound and injuries from a fall, according to a recorded statement on the city police media hotline. It said he was taken to the Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.