51ºÚÁÏ

ST. LOUIS   •   A 51ºÚÁÏ man died Thursday evening after being shot multiple times in 51ºÚÁÏ' O'Fallon neighborhood, police say.

Police said Joseph Hawthorne was shot in the head, chest and arm about 6:40 p.m. in the 2000 block of Adelaide Avenue, police say. He died at a hospital at 7:18 p.m.

Hawthorne, 34, lived in the 1500 block of O'Fallon Street, police said.

Police had no suspects in custody Friday.

The crime scene is a couple of blocks from the College Hill neighborhood, a high-crime area that city police had inundated with dozens of officers last month after detectives identified several linked homicides and shootings in the area in January and February.

Hawtorne grew up in 51ºÚÁÏ and earned his GED after attending Lindbergh High School, said his mother Elaine Hawthorne. He had been in trouble and served prison time for drug crimes and burglaries. But she said he was not in a gang and no longer involved in illegal drugs.

"He was straightening up," she said.

Elaine Hawthorne said her son was known as "Pep" and cut hair for most of his friends and relatives. She said he had hoped to attend barber school and become a licensed barber.

She said her son would hang out in the O'Fallon neighborhood because he had a girlfriend who lives in the area. Elaine Hawthorne doesn't know what led to the shooting but thinks he may not have been the intended target.

"He didn't have any enemies out here," she said.

It was at least the 22nd homicide of the year in the city, excluding killings ruled justified and those by police. There have been four fatal shootings by police officers and two intruders killed by residents this year.

Police department data show there were 17 murders in the city in January and February of 2012.