ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri Highway Patrol officials say a new system notifying the public when a police officer is injured or killed wasn’t used in a recent shooting of two St. Louis officers.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the “Blue Alert” law allowing the agency to inform the public of suspect descriptions took effect Aug. 28, nearly a week before the officers were shot and injured in downtown St. Louis.

A Highway Patrol spokesman says the agency told the St. Louis Police Department about the suspect and left it to their discretion to issue an alert.

A Police Department spokeswoman says the department didn’t issue the alert because detectives felt it wouldn’t benefit the investigation.
Devonte Morgan was charged Saturday in the shooting. Another suspect has been arrested but not charged.