Anwar Shands, 44, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole this Wednesday for the 2020 murder of his cousin, Mallam Amir Tifah, in St. Louis’s Lewis Place neighborhood. Judge Lynne R. Perkins handed down the sentence after Shands’s conviction in October 2025 on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. The fatal encounter took place on the 4500 block of Newberry Terrace on December 27, 2020, according to a report by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office.
After receiving a distress call, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers discovered Tifah, who was 45 at the time of his death, facedown and unresponsive. He had been shot nine times, predominantly from behind, as confirmed by the medical examiner’s findings. Witnesses, who saw the shooting, identified Shands as the perpetrator, alleging he fled into a nearby home after firing the shots. Witnesses further noticed he had discarded the red hoodie he wore during the crime, which police later found burnt behind another residence.
The horrific incident was inadvertently recorded during Tifah’s call to 911, which captured the sound of more gunfire as Shands reportedly continued to shoot the victim in the back. This evidence played a critical role in the trial, providing real-time audio of the shooting to the dispatcher…