ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis college student who was charged Wednesday with shooting an administrator in a dispute over financial aid has a history of mental illness, authorities said.
He also may not have been arrested after his probation for a 2009 knife attack was revoked in May.
Prosecutors charged 34-yearold Sean Johnson with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and two firearms violations in Tuesday’s attack at the Stevens Institute of Business & Art.
Investigators said Johnsonshot the school’s financial-aid director, Greg Elsenrath, once in the chest during a meeting in Elsenreth’s office, then shot himself in the torso.
Both men had surgery Tuesday. Authorities haven’t said how Johnson is faring, but the school posted on its Facebook page Wednesday that Elsenrath “came through surgery last night with flying colors and is expected to make a full recovery.”
Until last spring, Johnson was serving five years’ probation for trying to slash a cabdriver with a box cutter in 2009 whilethey were driving on Interstate 70 in St. Louis County. Johnson pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and a weapons charge, and was ordered to remain on a medication for an undisclosed mental illness.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 01/17/2013