ST. LOUIS • A St. Louis gas station clerk was charged Wednesday with murdering a customer in September after believing the customer had tried to steal a $1.10 bag of candy, charges say.

Taleb Rebhi Ali Jawher, 39, of the first block of Colchester Drive in Ferguson, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Sept. 26 shooting death of Christopher Simmons.

Simmons, 34, of the 4200 block of Shenandoah Avenue, was fatally shot outside a Phillips 66 gas station about 9 p.m., police said. Police found Simmons dead outside the store entrance at 2800 North Florissant Avenue in the city's Old North St. Louis neighborhood.

Police said Simmons and Jawher had been in an argument inside the store, and Simmons left. Jawher followed him outside, police said. There, they got into another argument, police say, and the clerk shot Simmons.

Charges say Simmons "did not steal or leave the store with candy" and that Jawher followed Simmons outside the store and shot him in the back of the head as Simmons walked toward his car.