Major League Baseball

Prosecutor: Man held in shooting of fan after Cardinals game

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:06 p.m. ET

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ST. LOUIS -- A man is being held in connection to a shooting and robbery after a St. Louis Cardinals game that may have left an Army veteran paralyzed, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office said Wednesday.

Susan Ryan said the person of interest is jailed on an unrelated charge in St. Louis County while St. Louis police investigate the shooting Friday night. Police have not formally arrested the man because he's not a flight threat, Ryan said. She said the circuit attorney's office will consider charges once police complete the investigation, perhaps as early as Wednesday.

Christopher Sanna, 43, and his girlfriend had just left the Cardinals game and were in a parking lot a few blocks from Busch Stadium when two men demanded their belongings. The woman gave up her purse and the couple turned to run when one of the gunmen shot Sanna in the back.

Sanna's mother has said doctors have told the family her son will probably never walk again.

The Cardinals, who are preparing for the playoffs, hire off-duty police officers to work at Busch Stadium during games, with as many as 25 inside the ballpark. More are expected for the postseason.

Mayor Francis Slay and Police Chief Sam Dotson have pledged to increase the police presence outside the stadium too, although Slay said it is impossible to have officers everywhere. St. Louis has seen a spike in violence this year, with 152 killings, just seven shy of the total for all of 2014.

Dotson had said police had little to go on in the investigation. There are no surveillance cameras in the parking lot where Sanna was shot, and police were given only a vague description of the shooter.

A website dedicated to raising money for Sanna's medical expenses has generated around $80,000 in pledges as of Wednesday morning.

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