By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis – Two St. Louis police officers were shot Friday. One was killed, the other is in surgery but is expected to survive.
The shooting occurred on the city's north side when 24-year-old Officer Nicholas Sloan and 26-year-old Officer Gabriel Keithley stopped a suspect in a drug deal.
The supect took a gun from one of the officers and shot them both. He was fatally shot in return.
Police Chief Joe Mokwa said Officer Sloan died at the scene, despite wearing body armor under his clothes.
"You can only have so much body armor and be able to function and move your extremities," Mokwa said. "And [by] dumb luck or misfortune, the round that took Officer Sloan's life missed his body armor, actually it hit part of his body armor but not the steel plating, and it missed it by centimeters."
Mokwa said both officers had been on the force since 2001.