Six inmates at the downtown St. Louis jail are facing charges related to the abduction last week of a 73-year-old jail guard. Charging documents released Monday by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office offered insight into how the guard was taken hostage around 6 a.m. on Aug. 22. Prosecutors say two inmates were out of their cells helping the guard deliver breakfast trays when they began attacking him. The guard's keys were stolen and other inmates left their cells. Inmates broke TVs and used the pieces, along with broom and mop handles, to make weapons. SWAT officers freed the guard about two hours after the abduction began.
