A St. Charles man has been charged with four felonies after a crime spree that involved hijacking at gunpoint.
The St. Ann and Berkely Police Departments report that on July 12, Nicholas Lima, 29, approached a victim in the Northwest Plaza parking lot and demanded the victim's vehicle while holding them at gunpoint. Lima then drove away in the stolen car.
He then arrived at the Citi Trends store in St. Ann and held up the store at gunpoint and demanded money from an employee.
After leaving Citi Trends, he held up the Waffle House in Berkeley.
Police caught up to the defendant at the Hanley Road MetroLink station. He was still in the stolen vehicle. When police told him he was under arrest, he fled in the car and led the police on a high-speed chase all the way to Ste. Genevieve County.
"Crime sprees like this will always result in arrest and have the potential of ending tragically," St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said. "I'm grateful that -- despite the gun-flourishing -- no one was shot or killed."